Last month the Football Supporters’ Association met with Tracey Crouch and the panel conducting the Fan-led Review of Football Governance to make comprehensive proposals for the future of football.

• You can download the FSA’s full evidence submission here…
• Supplementary paper: FIFA statutes and an independent regulator…

The proposals are based on the experiences of our affiliated and associated supporters’ organisations across England and Wales, at all levels of the game. FSA member groups were also given the opportunity to present their own evidence.

The Fan-led Review’s interim report was also published yesterday – you can find out more about that and our response here. The final report is expected in October.

The FSA proposals cover:

• The role of club owners as temporary custodians of clubs, which are community assets of great value to millions of supporters across the country;
• A proposed new club-licensing system with revised and strengthened owners and directors tests;
• The creation of an independent Regulator for English Football (the REF) to administer the licensing system and to set and enforce regulations and maintain oversight of the football pyramid;
• New rules on club ownership including a golden share scheme to give fans a veto over certain major decisions and rights for fans to buy shares in their club;
• Club boards to incorporate independent non-executive directors and supporter representatives – as well the boards of the FA, Premier League, EFL, National League and other significant football bodies;
• Clearer, more comprehensive and properly enforced standards for structured supporter engagement at club and national level;
• Proposals to safeguard key aspects off the game, such as: pyramid structure of leagues, promotion and relegation, Cup competitions, reserve weekends for domestic competitions, protection of young players’ rights and ideas, proposals to tackle agents’ conflicts of interest and exorbitant fees;
• The need to share football income, notably from TV rights, more fairly across the pyramid, reducing the gulf between leagues, and the necessity of abandoning parachute payments;
• Better control of clubs’ finances, eliminating massive debts and unaffordable spending, with real time reporting and control;
• New measures to protect football grounds and other club assets, including a right for supporters to buy grounds under threat.

This report was co-authored by Ashley Brown, Dave Pennington and Roger Ellis – the FSA would also like to thank James Young and Jon Sams for their contributions. Additional thanks go to Greg Campbell and Radojka Miljevic from Campbell Tickell and Will Reddie, Dom Pereira and Astrid Ainley of HFW, as well as Robbie Whittaker. All provided valuable help and support with Chapter Four.