Government minister responds to Charlie Methven & Co's state-backed plan to help EFL clubs avoid financial woe

A plan co-authored by Sunderland co-owner Methven and former Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee chair Damian Collins had called for the establishment by the Football Association of a Football Finance Authority (FFA), underwritten by the Government, which would provide funds to keep EFL clubs affected by the Covid-19 outbreak afloat.

Collins has argued that there may only be a few weeks "to save professional football as we know it", with League One and Two clubs in particular stretched by the complete loss of match day revenue.

All football was suspended in mid-March and while the Premier League and Championship aim to return later this month, the bottom two tiers face not playing again for months.

Collins asked the current Secretary of State for DCMS, Oliver Dowden, what support will be available from Government?

Dowden replied: "The most important first step is to get sports going behind closed doors because that helps secure revenue, so we've got the Premier League and then the Championship.

"I would look first to sports to look after themselves and I'm meeting extensively with the EFL and Premiership and FA. But of course we'll continue to work on this."

There have been growing calls for the Premier League to do more to help lower league clubs out during the crisis but earlier this week PL chief executive Richard Masters indicated the first priority was to complete the 2019-20 season and see how things looked.

He told Sky Sports: "At the moment we have made good all our solidarity contributions to the pyramid for 2019-20 and indeed we have forwarded a big chunk of next year's revenue, and we are committed to completing that.

"What we have to get ourselves into is a position where we are sure of the Premier League's financial situation at a time when clubs are suffering significant revenue (losses), before we can return to that topic."