Cod Almighty | Diary

Lip service

25 October 2024

"Grimsby Town Football Club welcomes today's announcement on the revival of the Football Governance Bill."

A simple tweet greeted the announcement of the bill that's been introduced in the House of Lords to speed up the process of its passing. Will it benefit us? Will we be more than a rhinestone in an otherwise dazzling collection of cultural jewels? The Premier League is already putting out its rebuttals, making sure that everyone knows who holds power, that it will not be told what to do, that it will get to parade these shiny delights. It insists it will still control parachute payments and ownership tests and whatever else it wishes, and while it accepts the requirement to consider fans' views over ticket pricing it's still going to charge whatever it likes as these are commercial decisions and so nothing to do with the FGB. It also accepts the need to consult with fans regarding significant changes at club, such as playing strips and the location of the home ground.

Well, that's big of it. As is its insistence that it is their generosity that makes the EFL the sixth richest league in the world; without their help many more clubs would have gone bust, more clubs would have had to face even greater belt tightening measures, so much so that they'd have strangled themselves. Without this generous benefactor we'd all be forced a long way from its protective walls, grubbing in the soil with Oldham and Bury. The message is clear: be grateful, peasant.

This trickle-down economics model has been debunked, many economists insisting that it only creates greater inequalities, but we have a Labour Prime Minister talking about reducing regulations and allowing the markets free rein, not constraining them with regulations. You don't have to be a Marxist to see that private ownership of water and energy has not created a fairer, more equitable system. Winter's coming and difficult decisions will have to be taken because energy prices must be controlled globally and must protect producers' profits ahead of people's prerequisites to a decent standard of living. Football has not been and will not be any different.

By acceding to UEFA's demands over linking the FGB to official government policy, such as trade rules and relations with other nations, the government has shown that it is willing to back down, whether that's to get the bill a free and easy pass or simply to keep the owners of the product placated, we'll have to wait and see, but it's already clear that the product is all and that its growth will be put ahead of minor inconveniences like fans from a lower economic status being able to access this particular cultural jewel.

That's okay, they can still be dazzled by its shininess.

The Premier League's initial acquiescence suggests that it's happy with the content of the bill. It doesn't take a particularly cynical mind to make assumptions that if it’s happy with it - and happy to make public statements that it will not allow it to alter their own ideas - then it won't affect their day-to-day running of the world's elite division, nor its continued accrual of wealth and monopolies. The accusation that the parachute payments have created a system where unsafe practices are now protected is easily dismissed simply by restating the amount of money this puts into the EFL. The irony of another defence, that they have not awarded the third season of payments because all eligible clubs have returned to the Premier League and so not needed them, should not be lost on the rest of us: elite football is all but a closed shop already, with a consistent 25 clubs making up the 20 on a rotating basis. The occasional Luton only reinforces the illusion of sporting jeopardy that the Premier League claims to hold dear.

So, benefits for Town? We can only hope, but, right now, at least until we have seen practical applications of the FGB, it feels like little more than "lip service".

Town's huge swings between melody and mayhem, marvel to misadventure have led to much madness among the faithful, not least your A46 Diary. This season is certainly interesting and the recent home form, while very frustrating, is certainly being compensated for by the away form. I was at Prenton Park on Tuesday night and had a great time. We could certainly do with a bit of that tomorrow against the Franchise. Having this fixture just a couple of days after the FGB announcement feels like more than just a coincidence, but whoever they might have been playing this weekend could have said the same thing: all those years ago when this particular travesty was brought into being, little was said, consultations were observed, fans were ignored, decisions were accepted as if nothing could be done and the producers of the product got what they wanted. Lip service indeed.