FA wants to be the home of a new regulator for football

The FA wants to be the home of a new, ‘independent’ regulator for football, which could oversee the sharing of wealth and the financial management of clubs within the sport.

Government is keen to introduce a new regulator for the national game following repeated bids from the most powerful clubs to break away and financial mismanagement of teams throughout the football pyramid.

A Fan-Led Review of Football, led by Conservative MP and former sports minister Tracey Crouch, concluded an independent regulator was essential, among other governance changes, to safeguard the competitive future of the game and clubs in England.

The gulf in wealth between the Premier League and the EFL leads to reckless financial decisions and Government wants to create a regulator to protect competitions and clubs 

The Football Association believes it is best placed to take on the role given its knowledge of the game.

Chairman Debbie Hewitt has written to members of the FA Council telling them that financial regulation in football is not working as well as it should and ‘change is required’.

FA chairman Debbie Hewitt has written to members about plans to host regulator

‘Our starting point is that with the appropriate governance changes and investment in our organisation the regulator could be an independent arm of the FA, with its own independent governance using our experience of regulation and the game to create governance that works across football,’ she wrote.

The letter added: ‘Regarding the structure and function of a regulator, we believe we can reach a common understanding of this across the game to create a robust and effective solution to be housed within the FA.’

Ms Hewitt said the aim is to offer a ‘complete solution to Government’.

The FA Council includes representatives of the Premier League, Football League, county FAs, and non-executive members, and decides the organisation’s policies.

A regulator would oversee financial distribution from the Premier League to the EFL

Previously, it has been reported that some Premier League clubs are supportive of the FA in accommodating the role of a regulator.

However, in contrast, the EFL made clear in November it supported the creation of an external, independent organisation. And that position does not appear to have changed with the EFL desperate to ensure any regulator delivers a financial reset, which sees significantly ,ore money flow from top of the game down.

Even so, the FA is pressing on and developing its plans.

The football authorities want to show Government they are working together to tackle the concerns raised by Crouch about the governance of the game, but they appear to be a long way apart on key points.

While they wrote jointly to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries on Monday saying they were developing responses around financial flows, cost control and regulation within football, they also separately sent letters detailing their own views.

Tracey Crouch’s (left) fan-led review has been supported by the Government. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has wasted no time in endorsing the key recommendation for a football regulator

Two crucial areas where there appears to be divergence is financial distribution and the creation of an independent regulator. 

Sportsmail understands there has so far been no progress on how to share the wealth of the top flight, with the EFL wanting 25 per cent of media revenues shared with its clubs and the abolition of parachute payments for teams relegated from the top flight to the Championship.  

Ms Dorries accepted the need for an independent regulator of football ‘in principle’ within 24 hours of receiving the Crouch Report on November 24. She said at the time that the ‘Government will ensure [clubs] are properly run and fans are protected’ and that incentives for ‘reckless financial decision making’ are removed.

Since then, a large team of civil servants at the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport has worked on the report’s 47 recommendations, determining whether they could, or should, be implemented.

Ms Dorries is due to give a formal response to the Crouch Report in two to three months. Following that, Government could legislate to create a regulator, which would have powers to impose cost controls on clubs, with plans included in the Queen’s Speech in May.

A spokesman for the FA told Sportsmail: ‘We welcome the findings of Tracey Crouch’s Fan Led Review and we are currently evaluating possible solutions to the issues identified in the report. 

‘We are in ongoing discussions with key stakeholders across the game about the potential structure of an independent regulator that can best serve every level of English football. 

‘The report identified that the regulator could potentially sit within The FA, subject to enacting the recommended changes to our governance. We are working through that model as an option, given our regulatory experience and current role in the game.’