Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab) I am grateful for the opportunity
to speak about football regulation and about Reading football club
in tonight’s Adjournment debate. Before I start, I will say a few
words of thanks to Reading fans and to all those campaigning to
secure the future of football clubs around the country. I also
thank the Minister for his support; I appreciate that he is
standing in for a colleague at the last minute. I particularly
thank the Reading fans who...Request free trial
(Reading East) (Lab)
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about football
regulation and about Reading football club in tonight’s
Adjournment debate. Before I start, I will say a few words of
thanks to Reading fans and to all those campaigning to secure the
future of football clubs around the country. I also thank the
Minister for his support; I appreciate that he is standing in for
a colleague at the last minute. I particularly thank the Reading
fans who set up the Sell Before We Dai campaign, which is calling
on the current owner to sell the club to a new, more responsible
owner. I would like to mention Ian Morton, who is here tonight,
Eleanor Flood and many others. I also thank our supporters trust,
and many other fans groups.
(City of Chester) (Lab)
As a supporter-run club, Chester football club has
not-going-into-debt written into its constitution. For them, it
means that they will never again lose the club to the whim of
feckless owners. Chester FC competes against clubs that do not
have that safeguard and is therefore always at a competitive
disadvantage because it is committed to a sustainable future for
the club. Football regulation must mean that that is tackled.
Does my hon. Friend agree that meaningful regulation, and
financial incentives to promote good governance with supporter
representation at its heart, has to be the way forward, from the
premiership to the grassroots?
I thank my hon. Friend; of course, the interests of fans and
clubs must come first.
(Southend West) (Con)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate on such
an important topic. Southend United football club is the heart of
the new city of Southend, but it has had a terrible time and is
currently under new ownership. Will he join me in welcoming the
football governance Bill in yesterday’s King’s Speech, which we
hope will pave the way to protect clubs such as Southend United
for generations to come?
I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. In fact, the point of
my speech is not only to thank the Minister for that Bill, but to
probe and ask questions about it.
(Strangford) (DUP)
We are going for a hat-trick of interventions, one after the
other. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing this debate
forward. It is critical not only for those here, but for many
others who are unfortunately not able to make it. I agree with
the hon. Member for Southend West () that the football governance
Bill appearing in the King’s Speech is a significant step
forward. In Strangford, we have many fantastic local clubs,
including Ards football club in the major town of Newtownards.
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a football regulator for
finance must apply to all of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, and especially to support small, local
clubs so they can reach their full potential? This is not just
about Reading or Southend; it is about all of us in this great
United Kingdom, if we do the thing right.
I thank the hon. Gentleman and I hope that the action the
Government are proposing is brought forward and has the widest
possible impact across the UK.
I take this opportunity to thank the thousands of local fans who
have shown their support for a change of ownership of Reading FC,
including the 1,400 people who joined a march from our town
centre to the stadium a few days ago. It was an incredible show
of support, and one that led to the unexpected closure of the A33
due to the huge numbers who took part. I thank all the drivers on
the other side of the road—a two-lane trunk road—who hooted in
support and cheered us on. I thank Reading FC legend Dave Kitson
for leading the march and for his support for both the club and
the campaign.
I thank our local council, including the council’s leader, Jason
Brock, Councillor John Ennis, who has been a Reading fan since
1975, Councillor Adele Barnett-Ward and others. I thank John in
particular, because he took part in a previous march in 1983
against Robert Maxwell’s ill-thought-through plan to merge
Reading with Oxford United. I should add that John has been our
lead councillor for transport for just four months and already he
has shut a major road, which is not something that many
councillors get to do.
I also thank my fellow Berkshire MPs, particularly the hon.
Member for Bracknell (), the right hon. Member
for Reading West (Sir ) and my hon. Friend the Member
for Slough (Mr Dhesi). Sadly, the hon. Member for Bracknell
cannot attend the debate due to illness, but he is a fan and
hugely enjoyed the march. Despite the local political
differences, he marched next to John and other seasoned
campaigners and marchers from the Labour council—although,
funnily enough, he seemed to feel more at home when the fans
started chanting “Blue Army” as we walked down the road. I thank
him, the Minister and colleagues from across the House for their
support.
I turn now to the substance of the debate. It is clear to us all
that there is an ownership problem in English football. I will
use the debate to explain the terrible impact of that ownership
problem on Reading and, by implication, on many clubs across the
country, and to ask the Minister to reassure fans, players, staff
and local communities. As I said earlier, I welcome the
Government’s announcement that they plan to bring forward a Bill
to regulate football. That is an important step.
I call on the Government to live up to that promise. Ministers
must ensure that the Bill includes proper powers for the
regulator and, crucially, that there is enough parliamentary time
for the Bill in the last months before a general election. Above
all, the Government need to show us that they have the
determination to press forward with what they have promised. I
know my hon. Friend the shadow Minister is willing to work with
them, as are we MPs, fans and the whole football community. I
hope the Minister will confirm that the Government are serious
and will commit to them taking this vital work forward as a
matter of urgency.
I will turn now to Reading football club. To put it clearly and
simply, as loyal fans did on the march last week, we want our
Reading back. The story of what is happening to our wonderful
club is quite simply heartbreaking. It is terrible, and I could
use much less parliamentary language—as was occasionally heard as
we marched down the A33. The situation we face stands in stark
contrast to the history and traditions of our great club.
Reading was founded in 1871, and it is one of the oldest clubs in
English football. The fans, the players of the men’s and women’s
teams, and the staff have all been badly let down. In men’s
football, Reading has been a championship club, knocking on the
doors of the premier league. It has enjoyed three seasons in the
top flight. In fact, we were one place outside getting into
Europe at the end of our first premier league season, in 2006-07.
Fans have vivid memories of the nineties, the noughties and our
most recent time in the premier league 10 years ago—the proudest
possession of one of my children is a ball signed by the whole
team from that heady time—under the wise leadership of brilliant
managers such as Steve Coppell, who guided gifted players, many
of whom were local and came up through the club’s academy, and
the committed support of the then owner, Sir John Madejski, whom
I thank for his wise stewardship of the club.
The club and the wider football community used to talk about “the
Reading way”: developing and motivating players at a local family
club, and achieving far more than others would have thought
possible. That includes—I particularly like saying this—beating
Watford 4-1 to win the Simod cup at Wembley; winning the
championship a number of times, most recently in 2011; knocking
on the door of the premier league in successive play-offs; and
great FA cup runs, including sadly losing to Arsenal in the
semi-final in 2015.
Crucially, the women’s team were also punching above their
weight, and were a real success story. Until recently, they were
playing in the women’s super league thanks to brilliant players
and management, and were on the brink of doing something amazing.
Sadly, that run of success has now ended.
The club was sold in 2013, and a succession of owners have
presided over a worsening situation. Unfortunately, our men’s
team is now languishing at the bottom of league one, through no
fault of their own—16 points have been deducted from the club in
the last few months for an array of financial mismanagement by
the current owner, Chinese businessman Dai Yongge, not for
anything that has happened on the pitch. That financial
mismanagement includes Mr Yongge failing to pay wages and
national insurance. His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs had lodged
winding-up petitions before the NI was paid. Mr Yongge’s term as
owner started well, with investment in players and the training
ground, but sadly he seemed to lose interest. This may be a
familiar story to others who follow the history of many of our
clubs.
The effect of those points deductions has been absolutely
appalling. Reading’s men’s team was relegated from the
championship to league one at the end of last season, and further
points deductions have left us at the very bottom of that league.
To make matters worse, it now looks as if the club will be
relegated again at the end of this season. That would leave us
playing in league two. The owner has also pulled the funding for
the women’s team, which made them unsustainable as a professional
outfit—sadly, the players are no longer fully professional—and
they too have been relegated.
Let me say a brief word about players, staff and fans. Quite
simply, they are doing a determined job to remain positive in an
extremely difficult and challenging situation that is not of
their making. We are all extremely proud of them, and I pay
tribute to them all. Young, less experienced players—the men’s
team are the youngest in the league—who in some cases should
still be in the academy or on the bench, are playing with grit
and determination despite everything that has been thrown against
them. Fans with families and busy jobs have come together to
fight for our club in a community campaign that has made the
national news. We are all very proud of them, and I want to say:
“Come on you R’s!”
(Sheffield South East)
(Lab)
I apologise for being late to the debate—I was caught out by the
earlier start. My hon. Friend is making a good point about the
way in which football is often run by individuals who can, in the
end, bring a whole club and its community down because of the way
the club is managed. At Sheffield Wednesday, Dejphon Chansiri has
put a lot of money into the club—great—but he has been saying
recently that he may stop the funding, which is obviously a
considerable threat. In the end, clubs are not just about the
person who owns them, or the chairmen; they are about fans. Clubs
belong to them, and they should have the right to be consulted
right the way through on all those issues. We hope that the
regulator, when it comes in, will have the powers to do precisely
that.
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, which I will address
later in my speech. I hope the Minister will offer further detail
about what he proposes, and I urge him to use his speech to give
us some hope, some cheer, some optimism, and some fire in our
bellies to help fight for the future of our beloved club.
The Government have announced a Bill to introduce a football
regulator, which is welcome. That Bill has the potential to lead
to real change in English football, but sadly it is not clear how
far the Government will respond to fans’ concerns, and indeed to
those of the football authorities. We are all concerned about
owners, such as Dai Yongge, who seem to swoop in, hope to make
money, and then lose interest if they are not successful. We are
at a very early stage with the Bill, so I hope the Minister will
be able to reassure us about the thrust of that Bill. I ask him
to provide some detail on a number of key points.
For example, can the Minister spell out what the Government hope
the Bill will achieve? Can he be clear about the powers he is
considering for the regulator, and will he reassure fans that
they will actually have a say? Will he also put an end to clubs
being punished for the actions of irresponsible owners? In short,
will he commit to doing what it takes to make sure that no more
clubs and no more fans have to suffer what we have had to
suffer?
Dai Yongge has announced that he plans to sell Reading. He made
that announcement in October, and so far there appear to be three
bidders who have shown an interest in the club. That means that
the sale could go through before the Bill is passed, so is the
Minister able to reassure me about the club’s immediate future?
If the sale does go ahead, will he commit to Reading becoming a
pilot for new regulation to protect the club, and indeed to other
measures that may be necessary to offer support?
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank you once again for allowing me to have
this debate tonight, and I thank Members who have intervened on
me. Most of all, I thank Reading fans and our whole community. I
look forward to the Minister’s response.
6.51pm
The Minister for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries (Sir
)
I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Reading East
() on securing this debate. As he
mentioned at the start of his remarks, it was the intention of
the Minister for Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for
Pudsey (), to respond to the debate,
but he has had to return to his constituency urgently for reasons
that I think colleagues will fully understand.
In his remarks, the hon. Gentleman highlighted the deep concern
that he and many of the fans he represents have expressed
regarding football ownership. I pay tribute to his commitment,
and to theirs; having listened to his description, we understand
how difficult it must have been for those fans over the past few
years. We are very much aware of the passion and interest that
many hon. Members feel about the long-term sustainability and
governance of English football, and their commitment to their
local clubs. I thank the hon. Members for City of Chester (), for Strangford () and for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) and my hon.
Friend the Member for Southend West () for their contributions to
this debate. In particular, as a Member of Parliament for Essex,
I am very much aware of the difficulties faced by Southend
United, and my hon. Friend has been a fantastic champion for the
fans of that club.
The presence of those hon. Members in this debate demonstrates
how important football clubs are to the lives of people in this
country. In 2011, when I chaired the Culture, Media and Sport
Committee—quite a considerable time ago now—we conducted an
inquiry into football governance. It is somewhat depressing that,
12 years later, we are still debating many of the same issues.
However, I hope that the inclusion of the football governance
Bill in the King’s Speech yesterday will reassure the hon. Member
for Reading East and others that this Government are intent on
delivering and safeguarding the future of football clubs for the
benefit of communities and fans.
The hon. Gentleman has talked about his own local club, steeped
in the fabric of its community. It has been relegated, suffered
sporting sanctions and faced financial penalties because of
reckless decisions made by owners and terrible mismanagement. We
have also heard about poor and non-existent governance practices,
with fans being prevented from influencing key decisions that
affect them and having to petition local councils, in some cases
to protect stadiums. All such incidents threaten the long-term
health and sustainability of all clubs, not just Reading.
We have heard about how English football clubs make significant
contributions, and also about what happens when the community is
let down by irresponsible owners in charge of football clubs. No
employee, be they a player or, indeed, someone in the club shop,
should fear not being paid. It is the local communities and fans
that are the lifeblood of these clubs, and they bear the brunt
and fallout of bad ownership decisions. They see where the
structures are not working for the good of the game, and they can
articulate most clearly how these are set right.
My colleagues in the ministerial team have prioritised engaging
with fans and listening to their concerns, and I would like to
pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and
Aylesford () for leading the fan-led
review of football governance. This has been of immense value in
developing the White Paper and during the period of the
consultation we held earlier this year. I would like to thank the
Football Supporters Association for its support; its contribution
has been extremely valuable.
Too many clubs have been brought to the brink with unsuitable
owners taking over, stripping them of their assets and refusing
to fund them any more. We are committed to breaking this cycle of
inappropriate ownership, financial instability and poor
governance practices. That is why the inclusion of the Bill in
yesterday’s King’s Speech is so important. The Bill will
establish an independent football regulator, which will put fans
back at the heart of football and help to deliver a sustainable
future for all clubs. It will strengthen the governance and
financial resilience of football clubs to protect the national
game and clubs linked with communities and fans. Crucially, the
regulator will address systemic financial issues in football,
while providing the certainty and sustainability required to
drive future investment and growth. This will ensure that English
football remains the global success story and tackles the harms
that exist.
The Bill will give fans more of a voice in the running of their
clubs by setting a minimum standard of fan engagement. Clubs will
need to meet this, and will be required to comply with the FA on
its new rules for club heritage. It will give fans a veto over
changes to the badge and home shirt colours, in addition to the
strong existing protections for club names. Most clubs have a
strong relationship with their fans and consciously engage them
in decisions about club heritage, but not all do. For instance,
fans of Cardiff City and Hull City will understand the importance
of these measures after they recently had to battle to bring back
or to keep their club’s colours and badge. Likewise, the new
system will create strengthened owners and directors tests to
make sure a club’s custodians—their owners and directors—are
suitable.
Mr Betts
I think the consultation with fans is absolutely at the heart of
this. It was at the heart of the fan-led review, and I pay
tribute to the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford () for that. For the fans, it
will be really important that the legislation specifies how fans
groups will be appointed as part of the consultation, and it
should not be left to the owners of clubs to decide which fans
they want to talk to and which they do not, because that is at
the heart of the current problems in many clubs.
Sir
rose—
Mr Deputy Speaker ( )
I just remind the Minister that at 7 o’clock the Whip will once
more move the motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Sir
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.
I do understand the concern expressed by the hon. Member for
Sheffield South East (Mr Betts). Certainly, we would not wish to
have a system in which the directors decided who they do and do
not wish to talk to. It will be part of the licensing
requirements that fans are involved. I am sure we will wish to
explore that further during the passage of the Bill, but it is
certainly the intention that that is one of the conditions for
licensing.
We have seen other examples of fans fighting back against their
owners to save their clubs at Blackpool, Charlton Athletic and,
as we have heard tonight, Reading. That should not have had to
happen.
Does the Minister agree that part of the issue here is about the
test for ownership? It was interesting in Reading’s case that Dai
Yongge was refused as a potential owner for Hull City when it was
in the premiership —unlike Reading, which was in the championship
at the time. The English Football League allowed him to become
the owner of Reading. There is an issue there and a question
about the fit and proper test for owners.
7.00pm
Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 9(3)).
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now
adjourn.—(.)
Sir
I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern on that point,
particularly given the record of the owner of his particular
club. The Bill will insert as one of the duties of the new
football regulator the requirement to conduct an owners and
directors test, to make sure that clubs and fans are protected
from irresponsible owners. I am sure that we will want to explore
that matter in greater detail when the Bill comes to be debated
in this House.
The Bill will also require clubs to seek the regulator’s approval
for any sale or relocation of the stadium and to demonstrate how
they have consulted their fans as part of that. To give another
example, at Derby County we saw the issues caused by the decision
to sell the club stadium to a separate company owned by the
club’s owner. More recently, as the hon. Gentleman has
graphically described, we have seen fans at Reading petition the
council to list the ground as an asset of community value, to
make sure that it cannot be sold quickly and without warning by
the current owner. The stadium that the club plays in not only
has significant value to fans, but can be a club’s most valuable
asset.
In addition, the regulator will prevent clubs from joining
breakaway leagues. As Members will be aware, in 2021 fans were
faced with the prospect of a breakaway European super league that
was fundamentally uncompetitive and threatened to undermine the
footballing pyramid. Fans will no longer face the prospect of
seeing their club sign up to such ill-thought-out proposals.
Ultimately, we want a thriving footballing pyramid and more money
must flow through the game to make that happen.
On financial distribution, it remains our firm belief that the
best solution is a football-led solution, but if one is not
found, the regulator will have a backstop power to intervene and
force a solution. I hope a resolution on that point will be found
soon, and I urge both sides to reach a deal as soon as possible.
It is in the game’s interests to avoid the risk of further
financial uncertainty.
In short, through this legislation we are protecting the
fundamentals of the game we love while ensuring a more
sustainable future with fans at its heart for generations to
come. Meanwhile, alongside the introduction of legislation, the
Government will take the time to explore the extent to which
preparatory work can be done ahead of the regulator being
established in law.
I fully recognise the plight of Reading football club, as the
hon. Gentleman described, and I understand his wish that measures
should be brought in as soon as possible. I am afraid that I
cannot commit to a pilot at this stage, but I can tell him that
the experience of Reading FC and other clubs will continue to
inform policy development and decisions about how the regulator
is set up. Likewise, any sale that takes place in advance of the
regulator is a matter for the football authorities’ existing
rules and checks on owners and directors, but I urge hon. Members
who are concerned on that point to encourage clubs and their
leaderships to engage with the team in the Department as we take
the policy forward.
If the hon. Gentleman has particular concerns, I know that the
Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my right
hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey, will be happy to talk to him
further. I thank him for bringing the matter before the House. I
think we all look forward to the introduction of the Bill and the
establishment of a regulator in due course. I certainly share his
view that that needs to happen quickly, and before a general
election.
Question put and agreed to.
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