West Ham United vice-chairwoman Karren Brady
West Ham United vice-chairwoman Karren Brady
The Government is “doling out nuclear weapons” to football authorities with its financial distribution backstop mechanism, West Ham vice-chairwoman Karren Brady has claimed.
The backstop would allow the new Independent Football Regulator to intervene in the distribution of Premier League broadcast revenue down the leagues as a last resort. It could be triggered by the Premier League, English Football League or National League to mediate the fair financial distribution of this revenue if they are not able to come to an agreement.
Baroness Brady argued that the backstop hands “nuclear weapons” to football authorities and would not aid a diplomatic resolution to the current deadlock.
She said: “Earlier this year, Dame Tracey Crouch herself, the chair of the fan-led review, called the backstop powers nuclear coding, never to be reached for. However the Football League chair has disagreed and said he fully intends to use the mechanism and that it is entirely logical.
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“So, to extend the analogy a little, in this Bill the Government is doling out nuclear weapons to football authorities and they are doing so in the belief that these weapons will somehow create space for diplomacy.
“But the evidence is already very clear: in the real world, one side is ready to press the button and launch its missiles, so the powers clearly do not place the incentives in the right place.
“If they did, we would already have a new agreement and the football bodies would not have been driven so far apart. The fact that this Bill has led one party to believe they can launch a successful first strike is proof these powers have manifestly failed in their powers already.”
Her comments came after discussions between the leagues on a ‘New Deal’ for splitting television revenue – in which the EFL was calling for the Premier League to share 25 per cent – were put on hold in March.
The EFL’s present distribution deal, which has been in place from 2019 by mutual agreement, sees every Championship club get £7.8million, League One clubs receive £1.4m and League Two clubs £900,000.
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