The government’s proposed new football regulator would create a “closed shop” of top teams, West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady has warned.
The Football Governance Bill, which would lead to the creation of a regulator, was debated in the House of Lords on Wednesday.
Baroness Brady, who has held senior club positions for 30 years, told her peers there were “dangers lurking in this bill”.
“There are aspects of this legislation that risk stifling what makes English football so unique, the aspiration that allows clubs to rise and succeed in our pyramid system. The ambition that means fans can dream,” he stated.
The government wants a regulator that can “improve the resilience of clubs’ finances, combat dishonest owners and directors and strengthen fan engagement”.
The bill was introduced after a similar measure by the previous government ran out of time to become law before the general election.
But his Conservative peer Brady said the planned “extreme redistribution” would “replace our brilliant but brutal meritocracy with the likelihood of a closed business where survival, not aspiration, becomes a ceiling.”
Supporters groups and the English Football League are among those to welcome the bill, although the Premier League has insisted an independent regulator is not necessary.
