The Winner of the Young Player of the Year is...

On Saturday 14 th September, our League game against Walsall at the Bescot Stadium was marred by an incident when a City supporter threw a pryo onto the pitch. It is understood the Football Association (FA) are looking to fine Bradford City for the incident. It is not the first time this has happened and because there is a regular frequency with these incidents it is likely that all will be taken into account in deciding the penalty for the Club. The Trust deplore the actions of a tiny minority that, probably unintentionally (without thinking), ruin the match day experience for the majority of supporters. It is understood from the Club’s own statement which came out on the 20 th September that a young male supporter was arrested and is, ‘subsequently released on police bail, with conditions they do not attend any football fixtures in the UK while the investigation is ongoing’. Dangerous Pyro’s are a major fire hazard and are known to cause burns and breathing problems, alongside damage to hands, hearing, lungs and eyes. The smoke can often be a reminder to those who were witness to our own fire disaster of May 11 th , 1985. We wish to remind supporters that anyone found in possession of, or using, pyrotechnic devices face Club bans and will be reported to the Police. Stewards can have the powers to: Search spectators on their entry to the ground. Physically intervene against and eject spectators who are in breach of ground regulations. This includes decisions on refusal of entry. Check out more info on stewards’ roles and duties at Sports Ground Safety Authority . Awareness campaign In recent years the EFL and Premier League along with the FA and Football Supporters Association, (FSA) joined together to get behind the campaign of ‘ Love Football, Protect the Game ’ which came about after fans had come back after the Covid Lock-down’ and there was a noticeable increase in anti-social incidents at or around football matches. Banning orders From August 1 st 2023 there were a total of 1,624 football banning orders in force, an increase of 24% compared with 28 July 2022 (1,308). Within the 2022 to 2023 football season, 682 new banning orders were issued, an increase of 32% compared with the 2021 to 2022 football season. Reported incidents at football matches Incidents were reported at 1,516 football matches in the 2022 to 2023 football season (50% of a total 3,024 matches). The number of matches with reported incidents decreased by 6% (-93 matches) compared with 1,609 matches in the 2021 to 2022 season. For more data, look at the government’s statistics . Restorative Justice The Trust at our last Structured Dialogue meeting in August with the Club raised the idea with the Club about preventive strategies to act as a deterrent for further incidents and what they currently have in place. Perhaps a good example of a preventative strategy is to educate those supporters inclined to use pyro’s by showing the video of the traumatic events of the fire disaster. It was suggested to have representation on the ‘Appeals Panel’ if a defendant wants to appeal a decision. Love Football, Protect the Game If you regularly attend matches home and away, it is impossible not to see the visual presence of the ‘Love Football, Protect The Game’ campaign, especially at away grounds. We firmly believe that it is not worth the risk of a whole lot of trouble to throw a pyro onto a pitch. We do not want a bad reputation for our Club or our supporters.

Mansfield Pizza Hut restaurant are offering an exclusive discount to matchday going fans visiting Mansfield and the One call stadium, for the upcoming season. This will include City v Mansfield for the EFL Trophy Group match on the evening of 17 th September 2024. We received a recent email from Mansfield Pizza Hutt Restaurant and would like to communicate this to our members about this offer. In addition to this offer they also provide free parking to any customers for the duration of their meal and afterwards throughout the game. They are a 4-minute walk away from the ground, and a good option fans to take advantage of a discounted price meal and have the convenience of free parking so close to the ground. The above image shows the voucher explaining the offer.

In attendance from the Club were, Marco Townson (MT) - Lead Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) and Alex Pyrah (AP) – Fan Engagement Officer FEO). Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) - Chair, Justin Brett (JB) - Vice Chair and Matthew Pickles (MP). Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 5 th August. The last meeting with the Club had been the 26 th February, 6 months ago. As expected so much that has happened since then, so this was a much-needed catch up. Much of our discussion was about how the Trust can be involved in some way with the various developments within the Club that improves supporter and community cohesion within the City. So, without further ado lets dive into it. Season tickets The Trust felt it is commendable that the Club had frozen matchday ticket prices considering the temptation to put prices up as seen at many other Clubs. Also The Trust felt that it is amazing there is a tremendous amount of support in terms of so many, over 13,500 buying season tickets at the ‘Early-bird’ price, despite it going up a by £50. Our view was that there will be many who would be happy to pay more than £249. The Club agreed, as they have many paying more after the ‘Early-bird’ deadline. In total, nearly 14,000 have bought season tickets so far. There will be many who have bought additional costs to get into the suites and bars, and so on as well. It was pointed out also that there are some Trusts that work with their Clubs to provide a hardship fund whereby from those that like to pay over and above for a season ticket, that excess, can be put in a pot to subsidise those that can’t pay those sums of money – a hardship fund. It was said the Club and Community Foundation are already doing something like this – similar to what Yorkshire Water do. Ticketmaster We asked about the Ticketmaster and telephone service situation a few months ago when Ticketmaster had signed a deal with the Club. It was explained that the older ticketing system, Talent, was not without its flaws, the plastic cards were no longer working and they had to bring in a whole new telephone system. A complete overhaul was needed. Atmosphere and the move to the lower tier of the Kop The Club said the move was for safety reasons, and that all QR codes would be scanned to ensure all fans in the Kop would be at their seats. Club Business Strategy for the coming season It was explained that there were strategies for a wide range of things at the Club but the business strategy for fan engagement at least covered: · Family Excellence – The Club have received bronze for this EFL award this year, its third consecutive year and wants to achieve gold. · Ticketing · Food and drink · Website and first impressions · Outside the stadium · Merchandise · Travel and last mile (to Valley Parade) – e.g. road signs / artwork · Stadium facilities – Disability access around the ground has now been completed. · Supporters after the game · Fans feeling valued Improving our Structured Dialogue and the Club promotion of our work with the trust and Supporters Board (SB). Fan-Engagement Plan The Trust welcomed the fact that the Club had recently put it’s Fan-Engagement Plan on the Club website . The Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) is something all EFL Clubs are required to have published following a recent EFL AGM in early June where Clubs voted to approve regulation changes . You can find out more about how and why fan engagement has become of vital necessity for the whole of football in our Trust article here . We mentioned and discussed the Stoke City example of a FEP , which we all agreed was very good and Club said that they had used as a template. We picked up on the fact that the Clubs’ FEP has a quote from the SB’s Chair and dates of when they meet throughout the year and it was suggested that we have the same, a quote from the Chair and 4 dates in the calendar year. It already says that the dates of meetings can change. This seemed like a reasonable suggestion from the Club. Restorative Justice, Environmental Sustainability, Diversity and Community We have also been vocal and had meetings/emails with Paula Watson (PW) – Director of Operations about restorative Justice and crime reduction, environmental sustainability, Diversity campaigns, building community links with the Club and Community Foundation but they haven’t continued. There was a suggestion from the Club that we could have a person on the appeals panel with regards to restorative justice as MP works for the Probation Service, and the Club already have a representative from the SB on it. We have also asked about being involved in a ‘Community Day’ or ‘Open Day’ event, this is usually held ahead of a new season where Junior Bantams get autographs from players and there are different activities being run for the community at the Club. There is an intention for this to happen for the 2025/26 season. We asked about the solar panels intended for the roof of the stadium and it was said that they are now in place situated above the ‘Bradford End’ and Midland Road. On the Club website, Leanne Hunter, Watt Utilities Operations Director said of the project, “In an effort to create a sustainable and environmentally conscious future for the team, the community and the environment, Bradford City AFC and Watt Utilities collaborated to design and implement the enormous solar panel project, which took eight weeks to build and install after a year of planning.” Staying with environmental sustainability, we also asked about the First Bradford sponsorship deal, and about any plans for running services for evening kick Off’s and it was said that any special offers were to be looked into. On the Club website it says there is a matchday saver scheme that if you download the First bus app you can use the code: BANTAMSMATCH to secure unlimited travel all day for just £3 on matchdays. Together in Sound There was an idea suggested regarding bringing fans together by encouraging supporters to vocalize `We are the Bantams’ and by using technology, bring the voices together to create the voice of a crowd. It was agreed it was a possibility. Ownership We explained about how the Asset of Community Value had to be triggered into action; the owner of the stadium would have to declare their intention to sell. The community group that nominated the ground to be an Asset of Community Value, in this case, the Trust, would have 6 weeks to decide if we want to bid. If we wanted to bid we would get 6 months to come up with a bid. Stefan Rup could bid and other interested parties. Ultimately it would be up to the owner to choose the bid. It was noted that the T&A piece earlier in the summer got it wrong. It missed out the fact that there is a 6 week period for the Trust to decide to put a bid in, and we may not decide to put a bid in at all. Any Other Business The Trust raised the possible idea of a fan exchange, of City fans going to watch Hertha Berlin, and Hertha Berlin supporters traveling to watch Bradford City. Date for the next meeting November.

Fan-Led Review  There has been a huge emphasis around fan engagement since the fan-led review of football governance was pushed into action after fan protests against the ‘big six’, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham agreed to join a European Super League in April 2021. The fan-led review was a process of consultation with the Football Supporters Association (FSA) along with affiliate supporters trusts led by the then Chair of the review and former Tory MP, Tracey Crouch. She produced a report in November 2021. See key findings here . On the 7 th September 2023, a government ‘white paper’ (a precursor to an act of Parliament) was published on football governance entitled ‘ A Sustainable Future – Reforming Club Football Governance ’ , following the then Tory led government’s commitment on supporting an independent regulator. But of course this commitment for an independent regulator has cross-party support. On 7 th November 2023, King Charles said, “Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans,” in his speech, opening Parliament. The details of that legislation never passed through the final hurdles of the previous Parliament, but the Bill , now with Labour in government after the recent general election, still has cross-party support and in May of this year the FSA launched an open letter that had initially 170 plus group signatories which exceeded 200 by the end of May and Bantams Supporters Trust were one of them. See what the open letter says here . EFL and FSA One of the other factors as to why the Trust is in a stronger position in relation to the increasing emphasis of club fan engagement is that we are an affiliated member-based organization of the FSA, which brings us the advantage of being part of it’s League One and Two Network where we discuss issues that come up nationally, for example football fixture rearrangements for the purpose of SKY TV or issues around the devaluing the FA Cup by dropping replays. The FSA has a structured dialogue with the heads of the EFL, which selected or nominated Trust reps attend with some of our full-time national officers. These meetings are by annual a year and every year, the FSA asks its Trust reps to fill in surveys as to how well our clubs conduct their fan engagement with their supporters and whether they meet regularly with shadow boards / supporters Boards / Fan advisory boards, and if they have structured dialogue with supporters trusts. The findings of these surveys are discussed at these ‘high level’ structured dialogue meetings with EFL senior representatives. EFL fan engagement In early June at the EFL’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) EFL Clubs voted to approve several changes to the EFL Regulations, see EFL Statement – Regulation changes , which will come into effect immediately. These include: facilities for disabled supporters, club community organisations, and clubs having to have a Fan Engagement Plan (FEP). The Trust through our EFL FSA network was sent an email with ‘supporter engagement in the EFL guidance document. It was sent to all EFL clubs which our FSA senior colleagues had recently been working on. The document is very much intended to inform fan groups for when they are collaborating with clubs on their FEP. Here is a snapshot of the EFL changes to its fan engagement policy in the FSA headed document. The EFL, it is said to be reinforcing its commitment to fan engagement through these amendments: Clubs shall hold at least two meetings/fans’ forums per Season to which its supporters (or representatives) are to be invited to discuss significant issues relating to the Club. The framework for these meetings shall be documented in the Club’s customer charter, but are subject to the following minimum criteria: Clubs must be represented by the Club’s majority owner, board Director(s) or other senior executive(s); Where meetings are not open to all supporters wishing to attend, the supporter representatives must be elected, selected or invited in line with basic democratic principles; and Each club shall comply fully with the League’s requirements to create a ‘Fan Engagement Plan’ and agree to: Produce & publish a Fan Engagement Plan on an annual basis; 
 Nominate a senior Official to oversee delivery of the Club’s Fan Engagement activity; and Provide to the League (no later than 30 June each season) an end of season summary of work carried out to achieve the Club’s Fan Engagement Plan objectives Where a Club amends its Fan Engagement Plan throughout the course of the Season, the Club must update the version published with the latest version within no less than 5 business days of it taking effect. We became aware of Bradford City’s own FEP on the 1 st of August. One of the best FEP’s we’ve seen however is that of Stoke City’s . The Club consults with so many groups, groups of fans and Club staff, women and girls players, diversity groups, sponsors and so on, they have at least 12 fan events, work with their Supporters Trust and community groups and more. It’s something for all EFL Clubs to work towards. In this new period of fan engagement we feel our hand is strengthened as the FSA have a kind of trade union and employer-like ‘collective agreement if you will. Over the last couple of years we have attempted to gauge the opinion of the Club about the fan-led review and the priority issues that we urge consultation on. The traditional colours, the name, the stadium and ownership of the club and stadium have all been identified as items of key heritage items of importance in the Fan-led Review report. We’ve asked about the opinion of Stefan Rupp about fan ownership of football clubs as in Germany most football clubs in the Bundesliga are 51% owned, and indeed, if he would come and discuss with the Trust and Supporters Board respectively. The fan ownership model of the Bundesliga clubs was looked at for research purposes for the Fan-led Review report. The English version of this today is the proposed Football Governance Bill, whereby if accepted by Parliament, many key aspects of football from a more robust fit and proper owners and directors test, fan engagement and stadium requirements will need a license, and will be regulated by an independent regulator.

In May of last year EFL clubs have unanimously voted to accept a £935m 5 year deal with Sky Sports, which starts this season and will run until the end of the 2028-29 season. It is said the deal will keep the Saturday blackout in place. But does it really? It is said that under the deal 1,059 league, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy matches will be shown live either on a Sky main channel or via a Sky streaming platform, replacing the iFollow service. You can see on online, on the EFL’s, ‘how to watch Sky Sports Q & A’ the devil in the detail here . It’s basically means matches moved to 12.30 on Saturdays, teatime or later, or moved to Thursday, Friday Sunday or Monday. It’s a continual headache for actual match going fans. But it does say at least, ‘And before a ball is kicked of the 2024/25 season, all TV selections will be confirmed for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January.’ That relieves us a little but most match going supporters will take a dim view of this and think this is the thin end of the wedge. It also says, ‘games will be broadcast on existing Sky Sports channels or via Sky Sports+, available to existing Sky Sports subscribers or through NOW TV’. It is interesting to note that all selected League 2 Saturday fixtures are being televised at 3pm. It is said that no one was expecting the fixtures to be as staggered as they have been scheduled for the opening day of the season. This was an agreement made between the EFL and Sky. As there are no Premier League games that weekend and as the Saturday Championship games are scheduled to kick off at 12:30, the activation threshold (for the 3pm blackout) will not be reached. The blackout is when the majority (i.e. 50% or more) of the weekly football matches in the top or top two domestic leagues or in the national cup(s) in the country are played in a two and a half hour window. Really, Sky, and their EFL buddies were complicit in their manoeuvrings.  However, the FSA say it will be monitoring the situation.

On the 17th of July 2024, three well known City Supporters, Nick Kitchen, Lenny Berry and the Trust Chair, Manny Dominguez met up with BBC reporter Aisha Iqbal at Valley Parade to be interviewed about what the stadium means to them in light of the listing of the ground as an Asset of Community Value or ACV. The interview is now written as a BBC news article . It is well written and covers broadly all what was said. We believe the ACV is a matter of transparency once the owner of the stadium announces an intention to sell. Fans’ reps should be consulted and involved in discussions about the issues important to supporters such as the stadium. Collectively, football supporters are the largest stakeholder of football. And it should be remembered that without football fans football is nothing. It is very much reliant on our passion and love of our football clubs and stadiums. Therefore we have an obligation to consult our members and the wider city support base to encourage as much discussion and debate to see if there is a mandate for community ownership. The listing of the ground can give confidence to City fans that the Trust has their interests at heart. Our interview was broadcast on Look North and can be seen below. Additionally, the full interview on Radio Leeds can also be accessed.

Bantams Supporters Trust are pleased to inform our members, and the wider City supporter base that we have been successful in our application to Bradford Metropolitan Council in listing the stadium at Valley Parade as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). This came into effect from the 11 th June 2024. The property (the stadium) will remain on the list for five years after which time it will be removed. To re-list it, we would have to submit a new nomination for it. We took this step because we feel that Valley Parade deserves to be recognised publicly for the role it plays in the lives of City supporters and the wider community of Bradford. For 120 years, the stadium has brought the community together with a shared focus of activity that reaches into many corners of the Bradford District's collective life. Should Gordon Gibb’s Family Pension Fund decide to sell the stadium, the local authority would notify us. We would then have six weeks to make a decision to bid to buy the stadium. If we decided to bid, we would have a six-month moratorium period to come up with the necessary funds to submit an offer. In the event of any substantive move to change the ownership of Valley Parade, the Trust would consult immediately with members in order to determine a fans' view of the best way forward for the club and to ensure the continuation of football at Valley Parade. For more information about the ACV, please check the previous article we put out in March notifying you of our application, here . We are pleased to understand from a recent article in the Telegraph & Argus that the owner of the club, Stefan Rupp, is actively considering the purchase of Valley Parade. We also welcome Mr. Rupp's emphasis on the importance of communication and dialogue in strengthening the relationship between the club and its fans, and his determination to come to the forefront of public discussions about the future of the club. The acquisition of Valley Parade on a basis that met with the approval of fans would offer an exceptional opportunity to unify the City community around a common objective. The Trust looks forward to a constructive dialogue with the club and its owner about this possibility for the future. You can see the Council’s listing of the stadium at Valley Parade here .

With the general election now called for the 4 th July, the Football Governance Bill, which has had 2 readings in parliament already, will not have time to go through the final Committee stage during this parliament. However, all is not lost, as there is cross-party support and the Football Supporters Association (FSA) to which Bantams Supporters Trust is affiliated to, has launched an open letter to the political parties appealing for their commitment to the bill in their manifesto’s should they win the election. The letter is co-signed by Kevin Miles, CEO of the FSA, and Tracey Crouch, the Chair and author of the Fan-led Review. The letter also has more than 200 FSA member supporters’ group signatories including Bantams Supporters Trust. You can see the full letter and signatories here . Concerns about the Bill after the general election and proffered by the PL The Guardian, 23 rd May says that, “There remains uncertainty, however, over whether an incoming government would pick up the bill as it is or seek to redraft it. This could lead to another extended period of lobbying by football stakeholders, and further delay the introduction of a regulator.” And the Premier League (PL) clubs cannot agree a distribution package to the EFL and cannot agree with the EFL regarding the regulator’s proposed backstop powers to enforce financial redistribution from the top flight down the pyramid. The Football Governance Bill – an opportunity for the Premier League, not a threat The PL, who are not entirely on board with the Football Governance Bill, have called it a threat to a successful British business, when in fact the PL could help bring about an improved healthier competition throughout the whole pyramid with a significantly better financial redistribution process. And as well as the wider improvements the Bill can bring to the PL, it will improve it as a business. The PL’s income is already far ahead of the top divisions in Germany, Spain, Italy and France. According to Deloitte forecasts, Premier League revenues in 2023/24 will be €3.2bn ahead of its nearest competitor, Germany’s Bundesliga. Deloitte 2023/24 projections ( Annual Review of Football Finance 2023 ): 1. Premier League - £6.66bn* 2. Bundesliga - £3.45bn 3. LaLiga - £3.4bn 4. Serie A - £2.45bn 5. Ligue 1 - £2.05bn It would take a failure of spectacular proportions for this commercial dominance to be lost, and that failure will not come a result of improvements to governance that have been carefully thought through by MPs, fan organisations and clubs at all levels of the game. The huge income of the PL is offset by massive financial losses, due to a lack of financial constraints. The latest financial returns show combined annual losses by PL clubs exceeding £1bn – all while paying players and agents a combined £4.4bn. *New reports indicate the latest Premier League club accounts showing revenue as £6.1bn. Championship club owners, gambling to earn a share of the riches at the top of the game, delivered annual losses for their clubs of £400m . The dreadful lack of financial controls in the game has led over the years to significant numbers of insolvencies. Since the PL was formed in 1992, 64 English league clubs have gone into administration or been liquidated. What does success look like? The PL is an enormous cultural success generating enormous global interest as its clubs collect the biggest prizes in football and create fantastic sporting moments. But is that the only measure of success and how sustainable is that success for every member club and every other club trying to be a member? How does the vast commercial gap between the PL and the rest of English football affect the strength and sustainability of the whole game? How is success defined? Is success a club like Nottingham Forest spending more on players in one summer transfer window than it had previously spent in its entire 157-year history? Is success Everton making losses that broke the Premier League’s own rules three seasons in a row? Is success Crystal Palace going bust, twice, to clear debts? Is success Brighton and Hove Albion, a club often cited as an example of what good management can achieve, being one of the most indebted in football and sustained by the huge generosity of a single owner via a £373m interest free loan? Bolton Wanderers and Derby County show how quickly that approach can go wrong. One problem the PL does not acknowledge is that its success incentivises its own clubs to take desperate measures to stay in it, while EFL clubs take desperate measures trying to get into it – all because of the enormous disparity in income between Premier League and EFL clubs. It has even distorted the commercial market and the competitive playing field by introducing a special system that recognises this - so-called ‘parachute payments’ to clubs who are relegated from the Premier League. These payments are made over a three-year period to help relegated clubs bridge the income gap they experience when dropping out of the top division. But the very existence of that system is an admission of commercial weakness. And it distorts competition, because clubs not receiving payments must deal with the realities created by clubs that are. Parachute payments or trampoline payments? While we have referred to them as parachute payments there is no doubt they act as trampoline payments – giving relegated teams a huge advantage over other Championship clubs. The threat to football’s competitive balance is that the same handful of clubs could repeatedly be promoted to, and relegated from, the PL – creating a de facto closed shop league. The recent offer proposed by the Premier League to the EFL would allow relegated clubs to spend 85% of their revenue on wages while other clubs in the Championship would be limited to 70%. Clubs in the 85% band already receive more revenue and would be allowed to spend a higher percentage of that revenue. EFL chairman Rick Parry said this would equate to a budget of around £110m for relegated teams while the EFL was bound to restrict EFL clubs to a £20m budget. This cliff edge must be removed and revenues spread more equitably through the game. Of course, some clubs will always be more financially healthy than others, and so be able to spend more, but the game should not put systems in place that widen the financial gap, nor encourage reckless behaviour in the name of fair competition. The very existence of parachute payments is an admission of failure – the free market that so many in football argue should be left to run naturally needs intervention because otherwise clubs would go out of business. The answer is to address the distortion of the market at root, not seek to mitigate by distorting it further. The Football Governance Bill could do this, but the PL is insisting parachute payments should be beyond the new regulator’s remit, and the Bill as it currently stands entrenches that position (Clause 55). One of the Bill’s key objectives is “to protect and promote the financial resilience of English football”. How can it hope to deliver on this if it is unable to address what is widely considered to be the one element which distorts the football pyramid more than any other? That clause should be removed, and we ask for your support for an amendment that does so. England’s unique football ecosystem The PL deserves credit for funding community projects and for “solidarity” payments to the EFL, National League (NL) and women’s game – that solidarity principle is now well established, and we believe they can go further. The PL’s success is based on a football ecosystem that extends deep into our communities and our culture. No other country attracts 38,000 supporters to a fifth tier play-off final as the NL did last season. The chance that any club can rise through the system to achieve the top prize is central to our game, and tens of thousands of fans showed how much they valued that when they showed their anger at the plans by the top six PL clubs to break away into a European Super League. That attempt could have destroyed the English game, but instead it sparked the fan-led review, which led to the Football Governance Bill and a potential new lease of life for football. Clubs throughout the league develop players and coaching staff that PL clubs recruit. The game, our national game, is embedded in the nation’s psyche and loved by so many because it is played at so many levels from Sunday league youth games right up to elite level. That is what generates the loyalty and the passion that makes football such a lucrative and successful business. Left unchecked, the PL club owners will destroy the fertile ground that nurtures its roots. And that is more of a commercial threat than a Bill that seeks, as the PL admits, to embed more normal business practices in the game. The PL sees the Bill as a threat because it sees the money its clubs have as PL money. But it is not. It is football money, generated by this national game of ours. Facts and figures Recent media stories reporting that the PL would pay £106m to fund a regulator have been jumped upon by opponents trying to portray this as an unaffordable cost. But let’s put the figure into context. That’s £106m across 10 years, equating to £10.6m per season, or £530,000 per club. Club sources tell the FSA the Premier League currently spends more than £20m per annum on legal and governance – twice as much as what a regulator would cost. Let’s look at some more facts and figures to put regulator costs into perspective: · £400m spent by Premier League clubs on agent fees in one year. · £4bn spent on player wages during 2022/23 with a median wage of £70,800p/w. · £3bn spent on player purchases, up by 57%, with £979m recouped on sales. · £9.4bn total squad purchase costs. · £54m spent across all clubs on director and executive staff pay. · £3m bonus for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy – rewarded in the aftermath of 2022/23 when the club’s pre-tax loss increased from £61m to £95m, despite competing in the Champions League. Fortunately for the club Levy’s bonus will be covered “thanks” to an increase in season ticket prices and the phased withdrawal of concessionary rates. · Parachute payments fact #1: Between 2019-22 the PL shared £887m via what it terms “core funding” - but £663m of this went to relegated clubs via parachute payments. That is 75% of the total given to the Championship as a whole. A small group of recently relegated clubs get most of the money leading to competitive imbalance. · Parachute payments fact #2: The PL shared £97.3m with League One and League Two teams across three seasons (2019-22). PL clubs have spent more than four times that amount (£400m) on agents fees since February 2023. £97.3m across three seasons equates to an average of £675,000 per club, per season. · Parachute payment fact #3: The EFL argues that instead of parachute payments there should be a solidarity fund combining the Premier League and EFL media incomes with 25% of that being awarded to EFL clubs. This would lower the cliff edge and be less likely to encourage risky financial behaviours by those desperate to claim a top-flight slot. Premier League: A threat to itself? We’ve explained how the commercial model the Premier League has created is storing up problems that can threaten clubs. But so are the Premier League’s attempts to regulate the financial monster it has created. It took 22 years for the Premier League to introduce a set of profit and sustainability rules for its clubs to follow. The clubs themselves voted for those rules, but some found they had to break them to try and compete in the distorted landscape the PL has created. So the Premier League had to punish them. But the League’s belated attempt to regulate itself has resulted in a bungled process that is opaque, contradictory and which has failed to gain the confidence of fans. This is damaging the integrity of the brand, as people question why and how points are won and lost, with many supporters arguing that not all clubs are treated equally. An independent regulator can restore faith by introducing clear rules and a clear regime of governance. That is the sort of system that has enabled many other industries to gain confidence from investors and consumers that has driven success. Far from being a threat, the Football Governance Bill protects and strengthens a great British success story. We will write a further article (Part 2) with a view to seeking amendments to clarity within the Bill as to how it looks at present. This will give an idea to members what work still needs to be done.

How many family households love Bradford City? You and your family household could be on Look North and tell them how much you love your match-going routine. Look North, the BBC’s regional news programme want do a big spill into a City fan household to find out how much Valley Parade mean to City fans and link it to the Trust’s application to list the ground as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). Find out more about our application to list the stadium as an ACV and how it can safeguard the stadium here . If you would like Look North to come to your home and interview you and your devoted City supporting family contact us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk and we can put you through to the dedicated BBC reporter. The deadline for this is Wednesday 22 nd so you need to get in touch as soon as you can.