Football Governance Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Mann and Lord Moynihan of Chelsea

Committee stage
Wednesday 4th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan of Chelsea (Con)]

My Lords, I support all three amendments in this group, particularly Amendment 253. I am delighted to follow the noble Lords, Lord Jackson, Lord Markham and Lord Parkinson, in their advocation of these amendments. I declared my interests on Monday, but this evening I have a fairly massive conflict of interest. I do not believe that I am alone in the Chamber in having been forced not to watch Chelsea breach all the principles of equity by beating Southampton 5-1 as we sat here. The poignant thrust of this conflict would be if my football friends started telling me that my staying away from Chelsea matches is good luck for the team. Therefore, it is not without anguish that I stand before your Lordships.

I go back to my earlier warnings about the dangers of regulators. Such dangers are stark in the clauses that we seek to amend and in the amendments themselves. The questions that your Lordships have raised in the debate boil down to what it will cost overall. That is what clubs will be asking, and then they will be asking what it will cost them. The third question that will come to the mind of the clubs—except those luckless ones in the Premier League—is around what they are going to get. We will talk about that in a minute but, to go back to what it will cost overall, we have heard over and again that we have no idea. There are estimates, which are clearly—

[Lord Mann (Lab)]

I have met plenty of clubs that have given an estimate of the likely cost, including across the Premier League. There is no ambiguity around the kind of sum that many Premier League clubs are citing as to what they expect the cost to be.

[Lord Moynihan of Chelsea (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for that intervention but the fact remains that they cannot know what it will cost because, for a start, we do not have any certainty about what clubs will be in the scheme. We have been told what it might start at, but the Minister has said that she will not—

[Lord Mann (Lab)]

There have been extraordinarily levels of dialogue between the Premier League and the Government over a long period on this. The suggestion that the Premier League does not have some idea of the likely potential cost and has not spoken to clubs in relation to that is simply nonsense. I have spoken to clubs which have given specific estimates of what they anticipate it will be. Whether that is accurate or not, the idea that those figures have not been discussed at length is something of a fantasy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Moynihan of Chelsea (Con)]

The noble Lord, Lord Markham, makes a very good point. If some local worthies approach you and ask, “Will you invest in this club?” and you say, “Well, I’ve got to figure out what it’s going to cost me”, and they then say, “You’ve also got to figure out whether your plans are going to be acceptable to the regulator”, again, you would turn your back. Entrepreneurialism is the heartbeat of the economy, as several noble Lords have said in this debate over the past few days. This regulator proposal just turns entrepreneurs away from wanting to invest.

[Lord Mann (Lab)]

It would be helpful if the noble Lord could give examples of entrepreneurs wishing to invest in football who he has spoken to. I have spoken to a lot of entrepreneurs, including people who have invested smaller amounts in smaller clubs and larger amounts in Premier League clubs. They know exactly what they are anticipating and what they are going into. Of course, as part of their business plan, they are factoring that in. There is a figure, there is a concept, and investment has not gone down in the past 18 months. Indeed, further major investment in major clubs in English leagues is likely to happen soon. What is going wrong if they are all running away? Can he give a single example?