AN SNP MP has compared English football to the Tory party, arguing it is “fully awash with blood money”, “spivs and gangsters”.
Gavin Newlands was speaking following the release of a fan-led review into football governance, which recommended setting up an independent regulator for the sport.
Mr Newlands urged the UK Government to consider adopting the “SNP Scottish Government’s” development of a fan bank, which gives more club ownership to fans.
The Tories have been urged to adopt all recommendations contained within the report, however have said they cannot commit to 100 per cent of them.
Mr Newlands told MPs: “The SNP Scottish Government’s recent changes to club-ownership governance have been based on the development of a fan bank to help supporters to take control of their clubs.
“Fans already have a controlling interest in a quarter of the top flight: the three clubs being Hearts, Motherwell and, of course, the mighty Paisley St Mirren. By contrast, English football is now fully awash with blood money from dictatorships and oligarchs—similar to the Tory party coffers, it must be said.”
He argued that the fan bank would support “more fan ownership where supporters want it” and suggested “such a move in England would help to freeze out the spivs, gangsters and murderous regimes that are trying to sports-wash their image and are now running and financing many English clubs.”
Nigel Huddleston, junior minister in the department for Culture, Media and Sport, replied that the issue was a devolved matter, but said there were items in the report which could be learned by Scottish clubs, and vice versa.
He said: “I am sure that there are many learnings from the review for English football that the Scottish football ecosystem would perhaps take on board and consider.
“The clear message that I would like to send to Scotland and to football in the UK is that the report has made many recommendations, some of which may require legislation that we are likely to pursue, but there are many other things in the report that football itself can do anyway, and, as I have said, that applies in both England and Scotland.”
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