Football Governance

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I advise the noble Lord to await the Government’s response to the fan-led review, in which we will deal with all its recommendations.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, will the noble Lord come back to ground ownership and the problems that have occurred when grounds have been sold off? The review recommended a golden share to be held by a community benefit society—in other words, supporters of the club—to have a veto, essentially, over such ground share sales in the future. Are the Government sympathetic to that?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I am afraid I cannot anticipate all the areas of the review to which we must respond, but I repeat that football has clearly proven unable in the past to reform itself and deliver the changes needed. It is clear that current oversight of the game is not up to solving the structural challenges and that action must be taken. That is why we welcome the review and will respond to it in detail.