Below are two template letters to support the implementation of the Crouch Report – one to Tory MPs and one to opposition MPs. (You can find out who your MP is and how to contact them here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP)
Feel free to amend the letter as you like; the more personal it is, the more notice it will garner from your MP. Likewise, while email is absolutely fine, if you have the time to print and post the letter, that can sometimes carry more weight with an MP.
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TEMPLATE LETTER TO CONSERVATIVE MPs. SCROLL DOWN FOR A TEMPLATE FOR OTHER PARTIES.
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[Date]
[Your address 1]
[Your address 2]
[Your postcode]
[Name Surname] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
[Dear Name],
I am writing to ask that you contact DCMS and urge the government to implement its “Fan-Led Review” of football (“The Crouch Report”) as a priority.
Twice in recent weeks (in The Mirror on 02 Sept and The Times on 21 Sept), it has been reported that the government will scrap or further delay the Crouch Report’s implementation.
I am deeply concerned by this for two key reasons:
1. The Crouch Report was a 2019 manifesto commitment
Having been completed and widely welcomed in football (outside of a few stakeholders for whom it would necessarily mean a loss of influence), it was also welcomed by the government.
In the government’s official response to the Report on 22 April 22, the then Culture Secretary promised its implementation “as soon as possible,” saying, “It is now clear… that reforming the regulatory environment is crucial to achieving a long-term future for football, ensuring clubs are more sustainable and better run. We will introduce an independent regulator.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-fan-led-review-of-football-governance/government-response-to-the-fan-led-review-of-football-governance)
2. Self-regulation has been shown to have failed comprehensively in football
It is clear that the new Prime Minister has an instinctive preference for self-regulation, but as the government said in its response to the Report, “The problems faced by football are unique in their type and scale. The unique business models and financialisation of football mean both the risk, and the potential magnitude, of harm are greater than in other sports.” It went on, “the market is unlikely to reduce the risk of club failures itself. Therefore, government intervention is needed to pre-empt further financial failures in the future and protect the country’s national and most popular sport.”
In practice then, a return to self-regulation in football would be to place the future of football back in the hands of a small number of unaccountable clubs who have created financial chaos in the game, who attempted to use the financial impact of Covid to rush through the effective privatisation of the game and who, less than 18 months ago, announced their intention to join a European Super League – the very act which kicked off the Crouch Report.
Since then, and the huge backlash that followed, some big clubs have unveiled cosmetic reforms to give supporters a greater voice. But even as they have done so, the Premier League, driven by its largest clubs, is trying to pre-empt an Independent Regulator with the so-called “New Deal for Football.” Here, as always, the Premier League’s overwhelming bargaining power leaves the lower and non-leagues, as well as grassroots, without any real voice.
In my view, the case of an Independent Regulator is more pressing that ever. It is, in short, the last best opportunity to reform English football to make it sustainable and fair before backroom deals place a handful of clubs in an unassailable position financially and competitively.
I would urge you, please, to communicate to DCMS the broad-based support for the Crouch Report across the game and to impress on them at any further delay in implementing the government’s own manifesto promise could have catastrophic consequences for football.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
[Your name and surname]
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TEMPLATE LETTER TO OPPOSITION MPs.
—————————————————
[Date]
[Your address 1]
[Your address 2]
[Your postcode]
[Name Surname] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
[Dear Name],
I am writing to ask that you contact DCMS and demand that the government implement its “Fan-Led Review” of football (“The Crouch Report”) as a priority.
Twice in recent weeks (in The Mirror on 02 Sept and The Times on 21 Sept), it has been reported that the government will scrap or further delay the Crouch Report’s implementation.
I am deeply concerned by this for two key reasons:
1. The Crouch Report was a 2019 Conservative party manifesto commitment
Having been completed and widely welcomed in football (outside of a few stakeholders for whom it would necessarily mean a loss of influence), it was also welcomed by the government.
In the government’s official response to the Report on 22 April 22, the then Culture Secretary promised its implementation “as soon as possible,” saying, “It is now clear… that reforming the regulatory environment is crucial to achieving a long-term future for football, ensuring clubs are more sustainable and better run. We will introduce an independent regulator.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-fan-led-review-of-football-governance/government-response-to-the-fan-led-review-of-football-governance)
2. Self-regulation has been shown to have failed comprehensively in football
It is clear that the new Prime Minister has an instinctive preference for self-regulation, but as the government said in its response to the Report, “The problems faced by football are unique in their type and scale. The unique business models and financialisation of football mean both the risk, and the potential magnitude, of harm are greater than in other sports.” It went on, “the market is unlikely to reduce the risk of club failures itself. Therefore, government intervention is needed to pre-empt further financial failures in the future and protect the country’s national and most popular sport.”
In practice then, a return to self-regulation in football would be to place the future of football back in the hands of a small number of unaccountable clubs who have created financial chaos in the game, who attempted to use the financial impact of Covid to rush through the effective privatisation of the game and who, less than 18 months ago, announced their intention to join a European Super League – the very act which kicked off the Crouch Report.
Since then, and the huge backlash that followed, some big clubs have unveiled cosmetic reforms to give supporters a greater voice. But even as they have done so, the Premier League, driven by its largest clubs, is trying to pre-empt an Independent Regulator with the so-called “New Deal for Football.” Here, as always, the Premier League’s overwhelming bargaining power leaves the lower and non-leagues, as well as grassroots, without any real voice.
In my view, the case of an Independent Regulator is more pressing that ever. It is, in short, the last best opportunity to reform English football to make it sustainable and fair before backroom deals place a handful of clubs in an unassailable position financially and competitively.
I would urge you, please, to communicate to DCMS the broad-based support for the Crouch Report across the game and to impress on them at any further delay in implementing the government’s own manifesto promise could have catastrophic consequences for football.
Beyond that, if you could press the case for making the implementation of the Crouch Report part of your own party’s policy platform, it would create an opportunity to ensure these vital reforms do not fall by the wayside for purely ideological reasons.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
[Your name and surname]
The Ugly Game 