Football Governance Bill [Lords]

Chris Bloore Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Minister and the Secretary of State on bringing forward this Bill. My love affair with football started with World Cup Italia in 1990: David Platt volleying the ball into the net in Bologna, giving us a 1-0 win over Belgium; John Motson’s fantastic commentary; Gazza’s tears; and Gary Lineker saying, “Have a word”. I was stunned. Thirty-five years later, I watch my resident Max Stokes’s “Villa On Tour” videos as he tours the country following the Villa, and my life is more reflective of Colin Firth’s character in “Fever Pitch” than an MP.

Why is this Bill so important? Frankly, despite the Conservatives not recognising it, the regulation and governance of football is not working. My football club, Aston Villa, almost had to sell car parks to pay a bill to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs five or six years ago because of poor governance. The European super league, led by the big six—or the big five and Spurs —tried to ruin European qualification. During covid, we had the sight of premier league football clubs going with their begging bowls to the Government to get through, because they would not pay their own staff. We have had the collapse of Bury FC, and we have heard stories about Reading—and other clubs are to follow.

As someone who travelled the football pyramid as a player, I can tell the House that Macclesfield Town do not exist anymore, so the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) was inaccurate in what he said. I am sure he did not mean to be, but Macclesfield Town went bust. Macclesfield FC went to the bottom of the pyramid, and it is a new club.

Football clubs are about more than just what happens in 90 minutes on the pitch. They are where I spend time with my dad, and where it is still okay to hug and kiss strangers. My boy’s first word was “Mama”, but I was never prouder than when he said, “Up the Villa!” In coming to the estate today, I almost fell foul of the security guard, Stuart, who said that we were not allowed to wear offensive clothing—I was wearing a Villa shirt.

This Bill is important. It is a light-touch Bill; it is not major. Neither the Secretary of State nor the regulator will be telling Unai Emery to buy Marcus Rashford, or telling Wes Edens to invest in the north stand, although I wish he would. The Bill meets the challenges that we face as an industry, as clubs and as communities. It stops terrible things, like Cardiff City having to wear red because their owner thought it played better in China, or asking Wimbledon fans to go to Milton Keynes and lose their FA cup.

This should have been a policy that unified both sides of the House. I think Geoffrey Howe’s cricket analogy applies to the way the poor shadow Secretary of State defended today. Like Mrs Thatcher, he broke his bat before he came out.