England’s 20 top-flight football club owners will be required to sign a nine-point plan designed to maintain the competition’s integrity in a bid to avert any future breakaway threat.
Sky News has learnt that Premier League clubs were on Thursday sent a final draft of a new “Owners’ Charter” that their controlling shareholders will be required to commit to annually or risk facing tough sanctions.
A club executive said that the document would oblige clubs to avow their commitment to the English football pyramid – including promotion, relegation and qualification for cup competitions based on sporting merit – and to acting in good faith and with sporting integrity.
Adhering to the charter would also prevent club owners engaging in the creation of any new tournament format not permitted by the Premier League’s rules – effectively preventing any future bid to establish a European Super League (ESL).
Image: Six Premier League clubs were involved in the ESL plans only to pull out amid a storm of protest from fans
The charter, which will be discussed at a meeting of the Premier League’s 20 “shareholders” next week, comes three months after the six clubs which signed up to the ESL – and then swiftly abandoned it – agreed to pay £20m in a settlement with English football’s top flight.
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The club source said the charter also included pledges to back the English game and support its national teams; to combat discrimination and abuse; to run their clubs in an economically stable and sustainable way; to ensure that the Premier League remained the world’s most-watched domestic football competition; to protect player welfare; and to recognise the power of the 20 clubs as a collective.
They added that signing the document would also require club owners to acknowledge the importance of fans and the local communities in which they exist, as well as agreeing to the assertion that all Premier League clubs possessed “an equal voice”.
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The Premier League said in May that it would introduce an Owners’ Charter, two weeks after Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – and a handful of Europe’s other top clubs – stunned the football world by signing up to a new European Super League.
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A spokeswoman for the Premier League declined to comment on the contents of the new shareholders’ manifesto, but a statement issued after its annual meeting in May said it would be aimed at upholding the “principles” of the competition.
“Clubs… agreed to the principle of an Owners’ Charter, which will reaffirm the values and expectations placed on clubs and their owners.
“These additional rules and regulations are being put in place to ensure the principles of the Premier League and open competition are protected and provide certainty and stability for our clubs and their fans.”
It was unclear on Thursday exactly what form the sanctions for non-compliance would take, but one club executive said they had been told that the charter would require annual attestation by owners.
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Signing the document is expected to become part of the formal Premier League rulebook in due course.
It is expected to gain the backing of the Football Association.
The creation of the charter comes as an independent review of football’s governance commissioned by ministers approaches its conclusion.
Tracey Crouch, the former sports minister who is chairing the inquiry, recommended in July that an independent regulator be set up to oversee the game.
“The short-lived threat of the European Super League jeopardised the future of the English football pyramid,” she wrote in a letter to Oliver Dowden, the then culture secretary.
“While that threat has receded – for now – the dangers facing many clubs across the country are very real with their futures precarious and dependent in most cases on the willingness and continuing ability of owners to fund significant losses.”
In addition to the fines they agreed to pay in June, the six English ESL clubs would also be liable to penalties of more than £20m and 30-point Premier League deductions if they repeated their breakaway bids, under the settlement they reached with the Premier League.
They rapidly abandoned the ESL project amid a huge backlash from rivals, fans and politicians.
Only financially troubled Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid have yet to formally withdraw from the ESL – although they have been allowed by UEFA to take part in this season’s Champions’ League.
The Premier League-imposed fines were comparable to those imposed by UEFA, which announced a package of “reintegration measures” for the nine clubs who agreed to pull out of the ESL during a torrid 48-hour period at the end of April.
Four people have been arrested by police investigating cyber attacks targeting M&S, Co-op and Harrods.
A 20-year-old woman and two males, both aged 19, and a male aged 17, were detained in London and the West Midlands this morning as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation.
They were arrested at their homes on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences, blackmail, money laundering and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
Electronic devices were seized from the suspects and are currently being analysed by forensic experts.
M&S halted online orders, and shelves were empty in shops after the cyber attack on the retailer earlier this year.
The initial hack into the retailer’s systems took place in April through “sophisticated impersonation” involving a third party.
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Disruption is expected to continue at the retailer until the end of this month.
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Mickey Carroll in May answered why M&S cyber attack was so bad.
The Co-op and Harrods were also subsequently targeted by hackers.
Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s National cybercrime unit described the arrests as a “significant step” in their investigation, which remains “one of the Agency’s highest priorities”.
He added: “…our work continues, alongside partners in the UK and overseas, to ensure those responsible are identified and brought to justice.”
The National Crime Agency is keen to “signal” to “future victims” the “importance of seeking support and engaging with law enforcement”, stating that “the NCA and policing are here to help”.
The NCA has also thanked M&S, Co-op and Harrods for their support in their investigations.
The arrests, which took place early on Thursday morning, were supported by officers from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit and the East Midlands Special Operations Unit.
Earlier this week, the chairman of M&S told MPs that the hack had been “traumatic” and like an “out-of-body experience”.
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Archie Norman, however, refused to be drawn on whether the retailer had paid any ransom.
“We are not discussing any of the details of our interaction with the threat actor, including this subject, but that subject is fully shared with the NCA,” he said.
A New York-listed company with a valuation of more than $21bn is to snap up Space NK, the British high street beauty chain.
Sky News has learnt that Ulta Beauty, which operates close to 1,500 stores, is on the verge of a deal to buy Space NK from existing owner Manzanita Capital.
Ulta Beauty is understood to have registered an acquisition vehicle at Companies House in recent weeks.
Royal Mail had repeatedly failed to meet the so-called universal service obligation to deliver post within set periods of time.
Those delivery targets are now being revised downwards.
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Rather than having to have 93% of first-class mail delivered the next day, 90% will be legally allowed.
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The sale of Royal Mail was approved in December
The target for second-class mail deliveries will be lowered from 98.5% to arrive within three working days to 95%.
A review of stamp prices has also been announced by Ofcom amid concerns over affordability, with a consultation set to be launched next year.
It’s good news for Royal Mail and its new owner, the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. Ofcom estimates the changes will bring savings of between £250m and £425m.
A welcome change?
Unsurprisingly, the company welcomed the announcement.
“It is good news for customers across the UK as it supports the delivery of a reliable, efficient and financially sustainable universal service,” said Martin Seidenberg, the group chief executive of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services.
“It follows extensive consultation with thousands of people and businesses to ensure that the postal service better reflects their needs and the realities of how customers send and receive mail today.”
Citizens Advice, however, doubted whether services would improve as a result of the changes.
“Today, Ofcom missed a major opportunity to bring about meaningful change,” said Tom MacInnes, the director of policy at Citizens Advice.
“Pushing ahead with plans to slash services and relax delivery targets in the name of savings won’t automatically make letter deliveries more reliable or improve standards.”
Acknowledging long delays “where letters have taken weeks to arrive”, Ofcom said it set Royal Mail new enforceable targets so 99% of mail has to be delivered no more than two days late.
Changing habits
Less than a third of letters are sent now than 20 years ago, and it is forecast to fall to about a fifth of the letters previously sent.
According to Ofcom research, people want reliability and affordability more than speedy delivery.
Royal Mail has been loss-making in recent years as revenues fell.
In response to Ofcom’s changes, a government spokesperson said: “The public expects a well-run postal service, with letters arriving on time across the country without it costing the earth. With the way people use postal services having changed, it’s right the regulator has looked at this.
“We now need Royal Mail to work with unions and posties to deliver a service that people expect, and this includes maintaining the principle of one price to send a letter anywhere in the UK”.
Ofcom said it has told Royal Mail to hold regular meetings with consumer bodies and industry groups to hear their experiences implementing the changes.