Calls for new football regulator to be based in Bury where sport is 'woven into the fabric'
A town which saw its football club disbanded after financial issues should be the base for the sport's proposed new regulator, its MPs have said.
Bury FC were kicked out of the Football League in 2019 after a takeover bid collapsed, leaving the club heavily in debt and sparking calls for a regulator to make sure teams are being run properly.
The creation of the regulator is at the heart of the Football Governance Bill, which is due to undergo its second reading in the House of Commons.
Bury has now been put forward as the home of the regulator by MP James Frith, who says the "trauma" the town felt "when we faced a no-fan-fault eviction from the Football League... will never been forgotten".
The letter is co-signed by Bury South MP Christian Wakeford and Eamonn O'Brien, the leader of Bury Council.
In a letter to Lisa Nandy MP, the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, he said: "We believe Bury is the perfect location for the new football regulator.
"As with so many of our great English towns, football is woven into the fabric of Bury. Across the borough we represent four non-league clubs Bury FC, Radcliffe FC, Ramsbottom United and Prestwich Heys.
"In Bury we've the resolve and determination you should expect from this new regulator in its quest to protect the beautiful game now and in the future."
An independent regulator was the key recommendation of the 2021 fan-led review of football - which led to the Football Governance Bill - commissioned by the Conservative Government in the wake of the European Super League scandal.
Its progress through Parliament was interrupted when the General Election was called in summer 2024, but the new Labour Government has picked up the baton.
One of the regulator's key early tasks will be to produce a 'State of the Game' review examining football's financial flows, including the controversial parachute payments made to clubs relegated from the Premier League.
The bill is back in the House of Commons after it cleared the House of Lords in March on its journey to becoming law.
Changes made by the Government to the Bill, in response to concerns raised in the Lords, included placing a duty on the regulator to avoid having a negative impact on the financial growth of English football as well as investment.
It also introduced an amendment that would make a club's contribution to the economic and social well-being of its local community part of its corporate governance.
And ministers indicated the regulator could eventually be expanded to include women's football.
David Kogan has been selected as the Government's preferred candidate to chair the new regulator.
Kogan, who has previously advised the Premier League and the EFL on television rights deals in a 45-year career as a media executive, business leader and corporate advisor, is now set to head up the watchdog intended to ensure football clubs in the top five tiers are financially sustainable.
The regulator is also crucially set to have 'backstop' powers to impose a financial settlement between the leagues if they cannot agree one.
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