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Crystal Palace chair Steve Parish has accused the UK government of putting English football into “complete paralysis” with its plans to introduce a new independent financial regulator.
The “spectre of a government regulator” is stymying the game as clubs grapple with proposed legislation that they claim will reduce their financial competitiveness against overseas rivals, he told the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit.
Last summer the Labour government revived plans to introduce an Independent Football Regulator for men’s football in England, which aims to improve the financial sustainability of clubs and the league and protect the sport’s “heritage”.
The proposed regulator would have powers to prevent clubs from taking risky financial decisions and to remove owners whose suitability or source of wealth is not deemed appropriate.
But Parish said the watchdog “wants to interfere in all of the things we don’t need them to interfere in and help with none of the things we actually need help with”.
“We have a problem that we’re constantly being told that we’re not a business and [that] we’re part of the fabric of communities,” he added. “At the same time, we’re . . . being treated to the nth degree like a business.”
Chelsea Football Club’s Todd Boehly said from his perch as an overseas owner of an English football club, it was hard “to appreciate the need” for a regulator.
“The reality is, it’s hard to envision a world where it’s going to improve the product,” he told the FT summit.
English football has been transformed over the past two decades by an influx of money from wealthy individuals and state-backed actors. In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund overcame concerns to acquire Newcastle United for £305mn.
The Premier League, the world’s richest football division, has clashed with clubs such as Manchester City over its spending rules. The club is at present locked in a legal battle with the league over alleged historic financial breaches.
Against this backdrop, Parish praised Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, despite disagreements over future financial regulation of the league. Masters had done a “fantastic job of steering” top-flight football, he said, adding that “the dynamics of English football” had “worked outstandingly over the years”.
But Masters rejected Parish’s characterisation of the state of the game. “The Premier League feels like it has the wind in its sails rather than being paralysed,” he said. However, he echoed previous concerns that a new regulator would harm investment and deter potential club buyers.
“I think the Premier League has become incredibly successful under this current model and we’re concerned that it’ll be more expensive to invest, it will deter investment and that will slow the Premier League down on our progress,” he said.
Masters added: “We’re talking to the government at the moment about what sensible amendments can be made to the bill to help . . . assuage those concerns that some of our clubs have about it so that it could be a positive impact on the game.”
Additional reporting by Josh Noble
