Newcastle MP presents NUFC petition to Parliament
On Wednesday evening Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah presented a petition, with over 21,000 online signatures, to Parliament calling for greater transparency from the Premier League following the collapse of the Newcastle United takeover.
Chi said “This petition has shown the determination of Newcastle United supporters and concerned football fans across the country who want to see greater transparency. Football clubs are an important part of a city’s cultural identity and local economy, but fans don’t get any say on who owns their club. The Premier Leagues takeover process lacks transparency, accountability and consistency and fans feel they have no voice. I have taken this to Parliament to ensure that the Government keep their promise of a fan led review into the structure of our national game, and to put pressure on the Premier League”
Now Chi has presented her petition it will be sent to the Secretary of State responsible for the Premier League (DCMS). The Government are now obligated to respond to this issue and then the Petitions Committee will consider the Government’s response. They can then recommend further action such as Select Committee scrutiny or a Parliamentary Debate
The Petition said:
To the House of Commons,
The petition of residents of Newcastle upon Tyne Central,
Declares that football is an important part of a city’s cultural identity and economy; further declares that football fans have little say in their club owners; notes that football ownership is determined by the Premier League’s Owners & Directors Tests; further notes that the Premier League do not provide updates to supporters about the progress of takeover bids; further declares that Premier League due process is opaque; further declares that the Premier League are not accountable to football supporters; further declares that the Premier League have failed to engage with fans; and further notes concerns that Premier League inactivity led to the collapse of the recent Newcastle United takeover.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to take action to review the way in which the Premier League assessed the recent Newcastle United takeover bid, to provide accountability to fans and local communities of clubs subject to takeover bids, with particular reference to Newcastle United, and to commit to a timescale for a fan-led review of football, as promised in the Government’s manifesto.
ENDS
Notes
Chi’s Petition: https://chionwurahmp.com/2020/08/premier-league-petition/
https://guidetoprocedure.parliament.uk/articles/cCt2UriN/response-to-paper-petitions
- The petition can be found here and reflects traditional parliamentary protocol (link)
- There is an existing petition on change.org regarding the takeover which has amassed over 110k signatures. This does not require any Government response.
- Chi’s petition will require the Government to respond. The petitions committee will then consider the response and can recommend further action including scrutiny by a Select Committee or a Parliamentary Debate. https://guidetoprocedure.parliament.uk/articles/cCt2UriN/response-to-paper-petitions
- An E-Petition on the Parliament website would guarantee a Commons debate if it received 100k signatures. There is currently no such petition but there is a significant backlog on EPetition Parliamentary Debates following the suspension of such debates due to the Covid crisis, and the Government refusal to assign more Parliamentary time. Therefore Chi feels her petition will ensure a Government response in the shortest time frame. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/145126/find-out-more-about-epetitions/
Let’s hope we get a positive outcome. We need to know why the Premier League where hell bent on the takeover failing.
I do hope that the petition is given time for a hearing before the relevant committee.
There is a growing belief that the U.K. Premier league should be more open and less secretive by fans. The Premier League needs to be more accountable to government in order to be less in a position to have accusations such as were levelled against FIFA and led to Seb Blatter leaving under a cloud of suspicion and his successor also. FIFA’s problems could well be the tip of the iceberg.