The Labour Party manifesto issued today contains a section on football, a subject of considerable interest to shadow health minister Andy Burnham.
It states, ‘Football clubs are an important part of many people’s identity and sense of belonging. They are more than just businesses. But despite their importance in the lives of their members and supporters, too often there are no effectivemeans for fans to have a say in how their clubs are run.’
The Labour Party manifesto issued today contains a section on football, a subject of considerable interest to shadow health minister Andy Burnham.
It states, ‘Football clubs are an important part of many people’s identity and sense of belonging. They are more than just businesses. But despite their importance in the lives of their members and supporters, too often there are no effectivemeans for fans to have a say in how their clubs are run.’
‘Labour will provide the means for supporters to be a genuine part of their clubs. We will introduce legislation to enable accredited supporters trusts to appoint and remove atleast two of the directors of a football club and to purchase shares when the club changes hands. We will also review the role of fan participation in other sports.’
‘We will ensure the Premier League delivers on its promise to invest five percent of its domestic and international television rights income into funding the grassroots.’ Guardian journalist David Conn has complained in a tweet that this is not enough.
It should be noted, however, that the Labour proposal covers not just domestic revenue, but the growing share from international rights. Previous distributions have been confined to domestic revenue.