The Football League have issued a statement following plans announced by the Labour Party to offer supporters more say in their clubs.
The League have issued the following statement:
"The Football League has responded cautiously to the latest contribution to the debate on ownership of football clubs in England and Wales by warning against exposing supporter groups to increased financial risk.
Labour has today announced a proposal to give accredited supporter trusts the right to appoint and remove up to a quarter of a football club’s board of directors and purchase up to 10 per cent of the shares when a club changes ownership.
The Football League’s Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey, said: “As ever, we welcome dialogue with the political parties regarding football, as our clubs represent communities across England and Wales.
“Many of the individuals that choose to invest in football do so without expecting any financial return on their investment, as they too are supporters of their club. Instead, they do so for a variety of different reasons and we have to be careful not to create barriers that act as a disincentive to the next generation of owners and directors, as the game will only suffer as a consequence.
“It is also important to understand any proposal for supporters to have a legal right to purchase a stake in a club within the context of the obligations that come with it. For example, the average annual loss of a Championship club in 2012/13 was more than £13m with that shortfall having to be met by the club’s shareholders to enable it to continue playing football.
“Improved communications with supporters shouldn’t come at the cost of exposing those same supporters to unacceptable levels of financial risk. From personal experience and that of club directors that I speak with, there is no surer way of jeopardising a Saturday afternoon’s enjoyment than being responsible for it on a Monday morning.”
Supporters Direct have also issued a statement saying:
Supporters Direct welcomes Labour proposals for ‘Radical shake-up of football’ Supporters Direct welcomes the announcement of the Labour Party’s plans for a shake-up of football governance, centred on Supporters Direct’s objective of ensuring fans have a real role in the ownership and running of their clubs.
The most important element of this proposal is the right for Fit and Proper supporters’ trusts to appoint and remove up to a quarter of a football club’s board of directors; this signals the establishment of the formal relationship between supporters’ trusts and their clubs, which we have sought for many years.
No-one in football denies the special social and community nature of football clubs, yet there has always been a resistance to measures across the board that would actually increase the role of those fans in their clubs.
The importance of having a seat at the table where decisions are made has been the central plank of our movement and this organisation since the seeds were sown by our founder, Brian Lomax, at his own Northampton Town in 1992.
We have seen the success of clubs where ownership has been shared willingly and openly with supporters’ trusts. Indeed even the most sceptical of those in football have expressed admiration for this model, not least at Premier League Swansea City.
We also welcome an introduction of a ‘Right to Buy’ of 10% of shares on offer during a change of ownership. We expect to be a part of the continued discussions around this issue with Clive Efford and his team.
We also hope that this serves as message to football itself that the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s findings that demanded a greater role for supporters, real and tangible transparency and more openness in the way our national game is run, are not destined to gather dust on a shelf, like the previous five reports since 1967 on football governance.
We would like to thank Clive Efford and his team for listening and acting on the serious concerns, and for the equally serious proposals made during his consultation process. His willingness to listen, learn – but also argue his point – with fans deserves great credit in a time when politicians are often accused of cynicism.