Plans to delay Bill to regulate English football could kill idea altogether, warns author of review

Exclusive: ‘I am nervous as to whether it will actually happen,’ says Tracey Crouch – as legislation is shelved until eve of election

The author of a government review calling for an independent regulator for English football has attacked plans to shelve the move – warning it could kill the idea altogether.

Boris Johnson promised MPs he would act – after criticism that the national game is “lurching from crisis to crisis” – but there will be no Bill in next month’s Queen’s Speech, a leaked letter revealed.

Nadine Dorries, the sports secretary, admitted the delay would look like “the government kicking the issue of football regulation into the long grass,” in her letter to the prime minister.

Now Tracey Crouch, the former sports minister asked to carry out the review, has criticised the hold-up, while welcoming the commitment to legislate.

“However, and I don’t want to appear churlish, I am not comfortable with the government saying it will bring forward a Bill in the next session, more than a year away,” she told The Independent.

“We had three elections in four years, so my confidence in the stability of a normal electoral cycle is low and I am nervous as to whether it will actually happen.”

The Crouch report, last year, came hard-on-the-heels of fury over the attempt by leading clubs to create a European Super League, which was defeated by the opposition of fans.

The Conservative MP warned that, although that threat had receded, many clubs were in a precarious financial position, following the demise of Bury and Macclesfield.

Ms Crouch criticised “poor financial controls” and “reckless behaviour by owners”, a danger exacerbated by “an unwillingness of the authorities to intervene”.

The idea was for the regulator to oversee financial regulation in football, establish new owners’ and directors’ tests and create a new corporate governance code.

In the Commons last month, Mr Johnson – urged to recognise that “now is the time” to act – told MPs: “We should indeed have an independent regulator for football.”

The Football Supporters Association and the English Football League are pushing for the move, but it has been opposed by the Premier League and the Football Association.

In her letter to the prime minister, Ms Dorries proposed a beefed-up “suitability test” for owners, but argued the new plan required fuller consultation before pressing ahead.

A white paper is planned for the summer, with legislation to follow in this parliament’s final session next year – bang up against the expected general election in 2024.

The sports secretary wrote: “Some will express their concern that this is the government kicking the issue of football regulation into the long grass.”

However, she argued: “I believe that it is the opposite; it is the government committed to unprecedented regulation that protects fans, while preserving the economic value of our national game.”

Last month, the Premier League told an inquiry by MPs that statutory regulation is unnecessary, arguing the FA would be “effective” in the role.

This article was amended on 8 April 2022. It originally stated that the move to create a regulator was opposed by the English Football League, however the EFL has supported the idea since November 2021.