'Save professional football as we know it' - Sunderland co-owner Charlie Methven urges Government, FA and EFL to help clubs

A total of 18 MPs, former FA chairmen Greg Dyke and Lord Triesman, Methven and Grimsby Town chairman Philip Day have signed the letter, which follows on from the six-point plan published by the former SAFC executive director and MP Damian Collins last week which called on Government support to help protect clubs in the EFL from going under due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All football has been suspended and while the Premier League hope to return on June 17 and the Championship next month too, clubs in League One and Two face an uncertain future. League One clubs vote on Monday to either curtail or resume the season.

Collins, former chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, has written the letter and it calls for urgent action.

It reads: “We may only have a few weeks to save professional football in this country as we know it.

“The shock of the Covid-19 crisis has badly exposed the weak financial position of clubs in the English Football League, many of whom were already on the edge of bankruptcy.

“For clubs in Leagues 1 and 2 in particular, the loss of match-day revenue and money from the sale of season tickets is a major blow that some will not be able to survive. We want to see football return as soon as possible and for the current season to be completed in the divisions above League 2.”

It adds: “Overall, if nothing is done to provide financial support to football, clubs with old and famous names will almost certainly go into administration within weeks.

“More communities will go through the agony that Bury suffered last year. We will also see the release of up to 1,400 players who will fall out of contract this summer.”

As revealed last week, Methven and Collins have produced a blueprint aimed at preventing clubs from going under.

It sets out a six-point plan which includes the establishment by the Football Association of a Football Finance Authority (FFA), financially backed by the Government, which would provide funds to keep clubs affected by the pandemic afloat.

Rather than a loan, the report says, these funds would be exchanged for a minority shareholding of up to 49 per cent. The funding could only be used to meet short-term liabilities and create breathing space to restructure finances, rather than on the recruitment of players or improving infrastructure.

An independent director, chosen by a registered supporters' trust or local government authority, would join the board of the club to represent that shareholding, and then either the supporters' trust or local authority could acquire the shareholding at a discount to market value at some point in the future.

The letter sent today reflects the six-point plan.