Football League bosses fear Sir Keir Starmer is being lobbied by bigger clubs to water down plans for a new watchdog.
Sources claim the Prime Minister has been hosted at Arsenal matches by the club’s executive vice-chairman, Tim Lewis – a leading opponent of plans to establish an independent football regulator.
Pictures emerged yesterday showing Sir Keir and Mr Lewis, a former lawyer, locked in conversation during Arsenal’s Premier League away match against Brighton in April.
The Mail on Sunday understands that Sir Keir and his wife Lady Starmer were invited to the match by Arsenal’s directors. The club last night declined to say what Mr Lewis discussed with Sir Keir.
One senior football insider last night said Mr Lewis ‘claims to be close’ to Sir Keir, adding: ‘He [Sir Keir] will have had relentless lobbying from Tim Lewis, who is very anti the regulator.
Football League bosses are concerned that the Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) is being lobbied by larger clubs to water down plans to introduce a new regulator for the game
Sir Keir with Arsenal executive vice-chairman Tim Lewis – a leading opponent of plans to establish an independent football regulator
Sunderland director Charlie Methren (pictured) said there had been ‘some very concerted lobbying’ by top clubs of senior government figures about parachute payments
‘Certainly he has had his ear bashed on numerous occasions by Tim.’
Next month, ministers are expected to publish the Football Governance Bill, which will establish a regulator to oversee the game in England.
Some bosses of clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two fear Sir Keir may reduce the ability of the new body to close the massive financial divide between their teams and the biggest clubs.
They are particularly concerned that the Bill may not include a crucial clause allowing the watchdog to redistribute hundreds of million of pounds of so-called ‘parachute payments’, which are currently restricted to a handful of relegated clubs.
Speaking on a podcast, Charlie Methven, chief executive of Charlton Athletic, claimed there had been ‘some very concerted lobbying’ by Premier League clubs of ‘the most senior people in Government’ about parachute payments.
The Premier League argues that the payments allow clubs to compete in the top flight.
One lower league football boss said: ‘I think there’s always a concern with No 10 that they don’t want to offend the Premier League. We are just hoping Keir is intelligent enough to listen to the logic and the arguments from both sides.’
