The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) is set to unveil its long-awaited State of the Game report on Tuesday, delivering a sobering assessment of the financial health of English men's football and recommending that clubs adopt stricter cost controls.
The sprawling 250-page draft document will reveal that a staggering 94% of the top 116 clubs in the English game are currently losing money, underscoring deep structural concerns about the sustainability of the sport's finances. A final version of the report is expected to be published in spring, following an eight-week public consultation period that begins this week.
IFR chair David Kogan and chief executive Richard Monks are scheduled to elaborate on the findings and recommendations at a press conference in Manchester on Tuesday. However, much of the media attention at that event is likely to shift toward a separate and highly contentious issue: whether the regulator could compel Manchester City to be sold should the guilty verdicts handed down by an independent commission be upheld on appeal.
Under an enhanced owners, directors and senior executives test, the IFR holds the authority to evaluate the suitability of club owners and executives in cases where there is clear evidence of individual wrongdoing. This power could prove significant depending on the outcome of City's ongoing appeal process.
The State of the Game report represents the product of the Football Governance Act, the legislation that established the IFR. It has taken close to 18 months to compile what is being described as the most comprehensive examination of English football's finances ever undertaken.
The report's release comes at a pivotal moment for EFL clubs, who have been anticipating its publication in the hope that it strengthens their position in ongoing financial negotiations with the Premier League. Those talks center on a new distribution settlement, with the Premier League currently offering £180m annually over a decade—up from the existing £150m arrangement. The EFL, however, is pushing for £207m per year, along with a clause allowing renegotiation after five years.
Yet the report's findings may cut both ways. Details likely to emerge regarding reckless or unsustainable spending among lower-division clubs could just as easily be used to challenge the EFL's position as to support it. Both the Premier League and the EFL are expected to highlight whichever aspects of the report best serve their respective arguments in the dispute.
Adding another layer to the negotiations, the EFL has floated the idea of establishing a so-called "lifeboat fund" designed to provide financial support to clubs facing distress. Should the two leagues fail to reach a mutually acceptable settlement on their own, the IFR possesses the authority to step in and impose a resolution.
With the regulator now armed with unprecedented data on the state of the national game, Tuesday's publication is expected to intensify debate over how English football should be governed and funded in the years ahead, even as attention threatens to be diverted by the unresolved Manchester City case hanging over the sport.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.