The FAB have digest­ed the Bill revealed in Par­lia­ment ear­li­er this week, which promis­es foot­ball an inde­pen­dent reg­u­la­tor.

Under new leg­is­la­tion, unscrupu­lous own­ers could be forced to sell clubs and those oper­at­ing in breach of rules can be fined up to 10 per cent of their turnover. 

The bill aims to give fans more pow­er to pre­vent own­ers from mak­ing changes to club her­itage such as kit colours and badges.

The FAB meets with Saints boss­es four times a year to give sup­port­ers a say on issues such as sus­tain­abil­i­ty, com­mu­ni­ca­tions and sta­di­um projects.

On behalf of the FAB, chair Mike Sadler issued this com­ment to the Dai­ly Echo: “Southamp­ton FC Fan Advi­so­ry Board wel­comes the tabling of the Foot­ball Gov­er­nance Bill.

“This is par­tic­u­lar­ly as it aligns so close­ly with the mea­sures rec­om­mend­ed by the fan-led Crouch review as well as those of our own board, such as the safe­guard­ing of each club’s foot­ball her­itage, a mat­ter that deeply res­onates with a lot of fans.

“Mov­ing for­ward, it is our hope that fans con­tin­ue to be at the heart of the efforts of the reg­u­la­tor and we wel­come the chance to con­tribute our own expe­ri­ence and exper­tise to sup­port the effec­tive imple­men­ta­tion of the new foot­ball gov­er­nance struc­ture.”

Tracey Crouch MP’s fan-led review of foot­ball gov­er­nance, pub­lished in Novem­ber 2021, was a response to three cri­sis points. 

The col­lapse of Bury FC, a club found­ed in 1885, COVID-19 dis­play­ing the fragili­ty of club finances and the attempt­ed Euro­pean Super League.

Among its many find­ings were the need for inde­pen­dent reg­u­la­tion of foot­ball gov­er­nance and stricter reg­u­la­tion for prospec­tive own­ers and direc­tors. 

You can con­tact the Saints FAB to ask ques­tions, pro­vide feed­back and add items for dis­cus­sion to the agen­da via email at southampton.fc.fab@gmail.com.