Reading represented in Parliament as government discusses Football Governance Bill

Reading Football Club and its supporters have been represented in Parliament today as Sarah Turner, Chair of the Supporters Trust at Reading [STAR] was asked to give her verdict on the incoming Independent Regulator for football.

Mrs Turner answered questions on the Football Governance Bill, which is pushing for independent regulation in the game. Since becoming chair of STAR, Sarah has been crucial in the current off-field battles with Dai Yongge.

The legislation has already had first and second readings in the House of Commons, but Sarah was one of several figures called upon to give their input to politicians, including Reading East MP Matt Rodda and former Minister for Sport, Tracey Crouch.

Sat on a panel alongside Alistair Jones of West Brom group Action for Albion and Tim Payton on Arsenal Supporters' Trust, Turner was asked her verdict on the current plans for the regulator, where it needs to go further and how it will impact Reading.

Take a look below at some excerpts from Sarah's appearance in Parliament.

In response to questioning from Stephanie Peacock, MP for Barnsley East, on issues faced by clubs, Mrs Turner said: "We’ve had a terrible couple of years. If there had been an Independent Regulator in place, they may have been able to stop some of the things happening to us.

We have a position where nobody can help us and an owner unwilling or unable to fund the club. The EFL are unable to help because they cannot make him sell the club. The impact on the community is huge.

"Reading is a small town with the football club at the heart of it. The uncertainty going forward has really affected everybody, not to mention the fact that there are liabilities- people haven’t been paid for things at the football club because they’ve been unable to."

"Fans need to be consulted on where a club plays because people can move clubs- historically people have moved things away," Sarah added when quizzed on where she'd like to see more from the regulator. "On the sale of clubs, our assets have been stripped and sold on so although there is protection in the Bill for grounds, we’d like that to be extended to training grounds.

"We’re in a position where our owner split off the training ground, the stadium and the car parks from our club and all sold under different entities, which has made a sale very complicated. We’d like a regulator to be looking at other assets as well as the stadium."

Reading East MP, Mr Rodda, has been supportive during the club's struggles and has pushed the club's case in government repeatedly.

Asking Mrs Turner for her thoughts on the Owners and Directors Test, Sarah commented: " It’s a good start but I think there is more it can do. The owners and directors test- I don’t know if that’s a duplication of the EFL ones or if they will hand it over to the Independent Regulator.

"We think there needs to be some real-time tracking of what is going on at clubs because they’re continuously over-spending and risk-taking. We think the regulator should be taking an overview of what’s going on all the time rather than just at the beginning when they purchase."

Anna Frith, MP in Southend, knows all too well about the ownership struggles of football teams, still dealing with Southend United and rogue owner Ron Martin.

Wishing to discuss the current financial split across the divisions, with the National League receiving just 57p in TV money for every £1,000 received by Premier League clubs, the entire panel agreed that a fairer split was needed.

"It can’t be a ‘fair distribution,"’ Sarah said. "The system isn’t fair and the whole period isn’t fair so one thing we’d like the Independent Regulator to look at- how the money can be distributed down. We did a thing at Reading where we looked at some of the players starring in the Premier League and they were made in the National League and EFL.

"We would also like other assets protected, like the training ground. We can’t get an AVC on the training ground because it’s not a public property, but we think it should be protected in some other way, so it is for the use of the football club."

Take a look here to watch the entire session online.