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Dictators such as Kim Jong Un or Bashar al-Assad could be encouraged to buy English football clubs if “preposterous” proposals from Tory peers are passed, campaigners have warned.
Lord Moynihan, a former sports minister under Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, has argued that anyone with diplomatic immunity should be exempt from the owners’ and directors’ test that the incoming football regulator will apply to prospective club chiefs.
If adopted, the amendment to the Football Governance Bill would make it easier for more clubs to fall under de facto state ownership and, says pro-regulation group Fair Game, roll out a red carpet for some of the world’s most notorious individuals.
“It is extremely obvious why this amendment has been tabled – given the current ownership of clubs like Newcastle and Manchester City,” CEO Niall Couper told City AM.
“This is akin to state ownership and is a free pass to avoid any means of scrutiny, while it would open the door for other individuals with this status to just buy a club on a whim – without any due diligence.
“What if Kim Jong Un or the recently deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad wanted to buy a club? Does football just accept it because they have diplomatic immunity? It’s a preposterous amendment to even consider including in the bill.”
Lord Moynihan’s amendment is among more than 150 that have been tabled in the House of Lords, where the Football Governance Bill has had its second reading.
The proposal states: “A person who is entitled to diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), or any equivalent provision recognised by the United Kingdom, is not subject to the fitness and propriety test for the purposes of ownership or control of a regulated club.”
The suggestion goes even further than a stipulation in the original bill that the football regulator take into account the UK’s foreign policy when making decisions about prospective takeovers. The Labour government removed it when it revised the bill.
While Moynihan’s amendment is thought unlikely to generate sufficient support to be added to the bill, it may slow down its passage. The bill is now at the Committee Stage and the hope is that peers will finish assessing it before Parliament breaks for Christmas.
Couper added: “What football needs is an owners’ and directors’ test that is fit for purpose and one where the independent regulator has the power to scrutinise all potential new owners.
“Fair Game also wants to see rules to ensure that financial provisions are put in place for clubs whose owners do not meet the criteria or are disqualified.”
