English football clubs ‘will not be allowed to go bust’ due to Covid-19
Clubs in the English Football League (EFL) will not be allowed to go bust as a result of the coronavirus crisis, a senior government minister has said.
Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said he had received assurances from both the EFL and the Premier League that they had the resources to prevent any club from collapsing.
However, he said any individual bailout would be a “piecemeal” solution, adding that the government wanted to ensure an adequate funding deal was in place to provide greater certainty for clubs.
It comes amid growing controversy over a restructuring plan proposed by some of the Premier League’s largest clubs.
Manchester United and Liverpool are among the teams to back a Covid-19 rescue package that would see the Premier League divert a quarter of its revenue to the EFL and provide a £250m emergency loan to help with the immediate impact of the pandemic.
But the plans, dubbed Project Big Picture, would also involve a restructuring of the Premier League that would hand the nine longest-standing clubs additional powers.
Appearing at a select committee hearing today, Dowden branded the plans “Project Power Grab”.
“I hope that the EFL will stop being distracted by this latest wheeze and come to the table and do the deal,” he said.
The cabinet minister said he was confident the Premier League and EFL — which runs the Championship, League One and League Two, as well as the Carabao Cup — would come to an agreement.
But he warned that the government would bring forward a fan-led review into the sport’s governance if the two sides did not agree a deal soon.
Asked if the government would intervene to help bail out struggling football clubs, Dowden insisted that the “money was there”.
“Given there is that much money in football could we seriously turn round to a pensioner in Hartlepool and say that some of her taxes would have to go to support this?”
All 20 Premier League clubs were scheduled to attend a virtual meeting this morning to discuss the Project Big Picture proposals.