LABOUR today confirmed that it would conduct a review of the “fit and proper” club ownership criteria in football after financial mismanagement led to the exit of Bury FC from the English Football League.

The Labour Party manifesto, launched in Birmingham today, commits to make sport “accessible and run in the interests of those who participate in it and love it.”

It states that football in particular “has become divided between the extremes of the very rich and the very poor with clubs in Bury and Bolton facing collapse.”

Bury FC almost collapsed and was expelled from the English Football League in August due to financial difficulties, despite owner Steve Dale passing the English Football League’s owners’ and directors’ test. 

EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans ​​​​​has since told MPs that evidence of the source and sustainability of funding for Bury were not provided by Dale, while Football Association chairman Greg Clarke admitted he only spoke to the owner after the club had been expelled.

Bolton Wanderers barely remained in League One this season after former owner Ken Anderson risked its financial collapse and according to administrators, “used his position as a secured creditor to hamper and frustrate any deal that did not benefit him or suit his purposes.”