West Ham United vice-chair Baroness Brady has said the incoming football regulator is a “solution in search of a problem”, adding that doing anything that changes the value of the Premier League broadcast deal would be “reckless and wrong”.
The Football Governance Bill has been reintroduced into the House of Lords by the government having been tabled originally by the previous administration. It will be debated in the House of Commons before being passed into law.
But Brady, who is a member of the House of Lords, has been a critic of parts of the proposed legislation, insisting it could damage the Premier League.
“To me the regulator is a solution in search of a problem, there really isn’t a problem in football,” she claimed to the The Boardroom podcast, whose co-host Jack Sullivan is the son of West Ham majority shareholder David Sullivan.
“Of course nobody wants bad owners and it is important you eliminate those, of course everybody wants to stay closer to the supporters, of course there’s issues with changing crests and changing colours and all of those things supporters should have a say on.
“But when you get into the details, we’re already the most governed industry – we have Premier League rules, we have EFL rules, we have Fifa rules, we have Uefa rules and we have FA rules. A lot of the other clubs [in the pyramid] are worried about cost.”
Football regulator cannot ‘restrict growth’
The government has made hires to a shadow football regulator, which will operate out of Whitehall until legislation is passed and a full body can be established independently from Parliament.
DCMS secretary Lisa Nandy last month insisted that some members of the Lords are “intent on wrecking” the bill.
But Brady this week said nothing must be done as part of the Football Governance Bill that could stifle growth in an industry that “is constantly described as Britain’s best soft power, opens doors, creates £8bn for the Treasury and supports 90,000 jobs”.
The Baroness added: “It has to be a regulator that is making a difference in a way that doesn’t restrict growth, stop investment, harm football [or] interfere in the competitive nature of the Premier League.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world because it is competitive. On any given day any club can beat any other club. If you change that competitive nature and it becomes more predictable, broadcast revenues reduce [and] if you affect the broadcast value of the Premier League you affect the whole pyramid and to do that would be reckless and wrong.”