Nicola today called for a review of the ownership of football clubs, following the recent controversy surrounding the ownership and funding of West Bromwich Albion.
In a question in the House of Commons today (Thursday 26 Jan) to Stuart Andrew, Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nicola Richards, MP for West Bromwich East, asked the Minister to consider whether the regulator should have more powers to penalise owners of clubs who mis-use or divert heritage assets for their own private use.
Nicola Richards said: “Thousands of West Bromwich Albion fans are deeply concerned with the actions of the clubs ownership. In the last few years, the owner has taken out a low, fixed interest loan of £5m to fund his other business activities, with the club now having to take a high interest £20m to fund day to day business and footballing activities secured against the clubs name and stadium, amongst other assets.
“Does my Rt. Hon Friend agree with me that any regulator for football should be able to give fans the power to stop owners using a clubs heritage assets in this way, and that it should have the ability to penalise owners whose business decisions are not in the best interest of the Football Club?,” she said.
In the Minister’s reply, he thanked Ms Richards for her work in championing the fans of West Bromwich Albion.
Stuart Andrew said: “I would like to praise her for the work that she has been doing in this area and in support of her local football club, and working with fans groups like Action for Albion and Shareholders for Albion.
“We will set out our plans for reform in the white paper which will be published in the next few weeks. The white paper will include strong action on owners and directors to ensure they are suitable custodians for clubs and to avoid harm to fans and local communities like she has described,” he said.