A newly appointed head of the UK’s first football regulator has said his body will keep out of British foreign policy issues when it comes to ownership of clubs.
David Kogan was finally confirmed as chairman of the Independent Football Regulator earlier this week and the body will oversee a licensing system for clubs in the top five tiers of English football.
Its major focus will be ensuring owners can maintain clubs that are financially sustainable and the management is accountable to fans.
Mr Kogan was interviewed by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and he was asked about a “shopping list” of issues that “offend” the public, which included who is allowed to own clubs.
Challenged over the background of the existing ownership profile, Mr Kogan said the new regulatory regime he will oversee will apply to new owners or changing circumstances. The body will be “much more powerful” than the Premier League or the lower league EFL.
The regulator's powers are to “investigate anybody who wishes to own a club as individual and indeed the executives in those clubs and at the same time take a view”.
“But our job is not to make judgments about British foreign policy, our job is to judge whether a club is going to be financially sustainable and the owners coming in have a plan to make that happen,” he said.
Mr Kogan has been in the frame for the £130,000 a year role for more than a year and was formally appointed this week to serve until May 2030.
His 45 years as a media executive, included involvement in negotiations for global broadcast deals for sports right holders, including the Premier League and the EFL. Officials said that experience made him an outstanding candidate.
But past donations to the Labour Party prompted calls from the opposition Conservatives for an inquiry into allegations of cronyism, which began in June.
That inquiry remains ongoing according to an update issued by the government on Monday.
