Football regulator to recommend cost controls in landmark report with 94% of clubs making loss
The Independent Football Regulator is to recommend clubs introduce greater cost controls in Tuesday’s long-awaited State of the Game report
The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) is to recommend clubs introduce greater cost controls in its long-awaited State of the Game report, to be published on Tuesday.
The 250-page draft report, with a final version to follow in the spring after an eight-week public consultation beginning this week, will paint a damning picture of the financial state of English men’s football, including the stark finding that 94% of the top 116 clubs are loss-making.
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The report will include a series of recommendations for the regulator and clubs to improve sustainability, with the IFR chair, David Kogan, and chief executive, Richard Monks, to provide more details at a press conference in Manchester on Tuesday.
That event is likely to be dominated by questions about whether the regulator could force the sale of Manchester City if the mass guilty verdicts of an independent commission are upheld on appeal.
As administrators of an enhanced owners, directors and senior executives test the IFR has powers to assess the suitability of owners and executives “where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by individuals”.
The State of the Game report sprung out of the Football Governance Act, which created the IFR, which has taken almost 18 months to produce the most detailed study ever of the football industry and its finances.
EFL clubs have been waiting for the report in the hope that it will give them greater impetus as they continue to negotiate with the Premier League over a new financial settlement, although it may not necessarily do so given details that may emerge of extravagant and unsustainable spending by many lower-division clubs.
The Premier League has offered a new deal to the EFL worth £180m a year over 10 years, on top of the £150m annual figure currently being paid, but the EFL wants an additional £207m a year and the option to renegotiate after five years.
The EFL has also proposed the creation of a new so-called “lifeboat fund” for clubs in financial distress.
The IFR has powers to impose a settlement on the leagues if they cannot agree themselves. Both sides are likely to seize on elements of the report to bolster their arguments.
