Green Party calls for football regulator to set up in Blackpool to bring ‘£130m boost to town’

The Green Party says football’s new independent regulator should be set up in Blackpool to bring a £130 million boost to the town.

They say it could see as many as 200 new posts created on the coast.

It would also mean fighting off Manchester as the preferred location for the new body.

The Greens called on all political parties to support their bid at a hustings last night at the Armfield Club, Bloomfield Road, for the Blackpool South by-election.

Spokeswoman Tina Rothery, standing in for candidate Ben Thomas, said: “Blackpool not only has a rich football heritage but badly needs this kind of investment and good jobs.”

“Yet no towns have been invited to pitch for this Regulator. That is wrong. We want to see it on the Fylde Coast.”

The Football Governance Bill, currently going through Parliament, will establish the IFR for elite English men’s football.

Job figures have been carefully guarded, but the Greens understand it will have more than 100 full-time staff and possibly up to 200.

And its budget is likely to be more than £13 million a year for the first ten years.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport is currently advertising for a chairman at a salary of £130,000 for just three days a week.

The advert states that the IFR is “expected to be based in Greater Manchester.”

But the Greens understand that this has not been finalised and that they have not even located offices yet.

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And after the looming General Election, any new government could make a fresh decision about its location.

Rothery said: “Blackpool FC fans were at the forefront in fighting against the Oyston regime, a fight that featured prominently in the parliamentary debate on the bill that sets up this Regulator.

“The four-year boycott of home games, and lobbying by groups like Blackpool Supporters Trust, all helped bring this about.

“What could be more fitting that the Regulator coming here? It would also to send a signal to fans everywhere who care passionately about their clubs that they can make a difference and change the way things are done.”

The Bill is due to enter the committee stage, where issues like its location will be interrogated.

The bill is still open to amendment and the Greens say they will be pressing MPs of all parties to re-think where the offices should be, and make the case for Blackpool, said Rothery.

“Manchester has had billions of pounds of both private and public investment in recent years. It also got the National Football Museum in 2012, with major financial support from the National Lottery,’ she added.

“Is Manchester really more deserving of this extra public investment than Blackpool?

“The Football League itself was based on the Fylde Coast until 1999. We also have a big civil service presence in Blackpool, one of the main employers in fact.

“Why not use their expertise to help fill the roles required?”

The IFR has cross-party support, so will go ahead whoever wins the election.

It has three objectives:

• Club financial soundness – ensure that clubs don’t take reckless financial risks that imperil their viability
• Systemic financial resilience – ensure the game as a whole is financially robust
• Heritage –protect the traditional features of English clubs that matter to fans and local communities

It will have the power to fine clubs up to ten per cent of turnover for serious breaches of regulations.

It will include strengthened tests to ensure owners and directors are fit to run clubs,

The intention is to get the pro clubs to fund most of the cost of the Regulator via a levy, so the taxpayer does not have to foot all of the bill.

Four-fifths of that cost is expected to be recouped by a levy on the clubs themselves, with all clubs in the top five divisions of English men’s football being required to have a licence.