‘Project Power Grab!’ Culture secretary Oliver Dowden SLAMS Liverpool and Manchester United’s ‘Big Picture’ plan and warns it shows football is unable to govern itself
- Oliver Dowden has once again expressed his concern over ‘Project Big Picture’
- He labelled it ‘Project Power Grab’ and warns it shows football can’t govern itself
- He also promised that no EFL club will go out of business due to the coronavirus
- But Dowden described Project Big Picture as ‘a distraction at best from that’
The culture secretary Oliver Dowden has expressed a dim view about Project Big Picture talks involving Liverpool, Manchester United and EFL chairman Rick Parry, describing it as ‘Project Power Grab’.
The plans to change the face of English football have received plenty of attention this week, with the Government weighing in against the proposals.
‘I’ve made clear my scepticism and concern about this,’ Dowden said on Wednesday.
He went on to add that the provisions within Project Big Picture ‘tended towards a closed shop’ in favour of the big six.
He promised that no EFL club would be allowed to go bust, but described Project Big Picture as ‘a distraction at best from that’.
‘I hope the EFL will stop being distracted by this latest wheeze,’ he said.
Dowden added: ‘More importantly for Government right now, there is a problem in football which football is perfectly capable of resolving itself whereby the Premier League and the EFL just need to get together and do this deal.
‘We know from the conversations we have had that the EFL clubs will not be allowed to go bust, there are the resources there, but we need a comprehensive deal and this is a distraction from that.
‘What it demonstrates is that we were wise to put in our manifesto provisions for a fan-led review because it genuinely brings into question the ability of football to govern itself properly.’
Pressed by DCMS committee chair Julian Knight on the guarantee that no EFL club would be allowed to go bust, Dowden said: ‘Those are the conversations I have had with the EFL and the Premier League, I have received assurances that they would not allow that to happen.
‘They have the resources to stop that happening. That is one question about a club right on the edge that could just go bust and stopping that from happening, that is a piecemeal solution.
‘What we want is a proper deal where we have the funding available to the EFL to ensure that they can give clubs the certainty during this period where there are no fans in stadiums.’
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