Preston North End director and former Leeds United & Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale delivers verdict on Football Governance Bill
PNE's director has been vocal over the Premier League's failure to agree a new EFL funding deal
Preston North End director Peter Ridsdale has welcomed the introduction of the Football Governance Bill.
The Bill will be introduced in Parliament today, with plans to bring in an independent football regulator to follow. The regulator would oversee clubs in England's top five leagues, with its three primary objectives to improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure financial resilience across the divisions and safeguard English football's heritage.
Club owners and directors would face stronger tests as a result. But, the regulator will also be 'equipped with backstop powers to impose a ‘new deal’ on financial distributions'. That is something Ridsdale has spoken about in public lately, with the EFL board member unimpressed by the failure of Premier League clubs to agree a new funding deal.
He told the club website: “Preston North End Football Club echo the comments from EFL Chair, Rick Parry in welcoming the introduction of legislation through the Football Governance Bill. We have been consistent in calling for the whole football pyramid being able to agree a financial distribution model that would underpin both sustainability and, equally importantly, competitiveness.
"Whilst we had hoped that a ‘fairer’ redistribution model could have been arrived at by agreement between the Premier League and EFL, that has regrettably not been possible. There has been no offer forthcoming from the Premier League to EFL clubs. In the absence of a football-led solution, the only option left open would appear to be via a Regulator.”