By Christian Radnedge
LONDON (Reuters) – The proposed independent football regulator in Britain should not be too intrusive and allow clubs to grow without being hindered by bureaucracy, Brighton & Hove Albion Chief Executive Paul Barber said on Wednesday.
The Football Governance Bill is going through the House of Lords before it is due to be sent to the Commons for Members of Parliament to consider before becoming law.
The bill was introduced late last year to establish a regulator with the power to tackle rogue owners and directors, implement a licensing regime and monitor club finances.
However, the 20-team Premier League, the wealthiest football division in the world, has voiced opposition to elements of the bill, fearing banking style regulation would stymie growth.
“We want football clubs to grow and thrive and develop and create more jobs and more opportunities. What we don’t need is to be bogged down in more bureaucracy,” Barber told reporters at the Women In Football Be Inspired conference at Wembley Stadium.
“So it’s really important that the regulator is light touch and understands very much what football clubs are already doing in terms of maintaining a healthy balance sheet, maintaining a sustainable environment for their employees to continue to earn their livings and support communities and so on.”
Barber, a former Barclays Bank executive, joined Brighton in 2012 and helped their rise from the second tier to the Premier League, where they sit seventh in the standings. He also oversaw the development of the women’s team who joined the top-tier Women’s Super League in 2018 and currently sit fifth.
Plans are underway for a purpose-built stadium for Brighton women, which Barber said would be at a venue close to the men’s Amex Stadium.
On reports that relegation from the WSL is set to be paused, Barber said it was good to explore any way to grow the women’s game.
“We haven’t yet debated it as a club in our own right, so I can’t say one way or the other what we think about it,” he said.
“I think what’s right is that the women’s professional leagues are looking at every single avenue to accelerate the growth of the game, and if that means we’ve got to give owners a little bit more security in order for them to invest faster, then we’ve got to consider that.”
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge, editing by Ed Osmond)
