FSA chief praises 'repentant sinners' Liverpool

Football Supporters Association chief executive Kevin Miles praised "repentant sinners" Liverpool, who he views as a potential proof-of-concept model for the necessity of proposed reforms to governance within the game. The Reds were one of six Premier League clubs to initially announce their involvement in the breakaway European Super League in April 2021.

The fallout from that event, including major backlash from fans, accelerated the commissioning of the independent fan-led review of football governance, chaired by Conservative MP Tracey Crouch. Next week marks the one-year anniversary of the release of that report, which refers to the ESL controversy as a "point of crisis in our national game".

While Crouch has criticised the slow implementation of the review's recommendations, Miles was able to point to the Reds reform as one sign of progress while stressing more work and legislation was vital. "At club level I think it's a lot more patchy (than with football authorities)," Miles told an audience of stakeholders at an All Party Parliamentary Group for Football Supporters event at the House of Lords.

"We have some clubs who have moved an incredible distance in the right direction in terms of their supporter engagement. Interestingly enough, some repentant sinners among those clubs, in terms of the ones who were involved in the conspiracy for the breakaway.

"I think people have either genuinely learned their lesson, we don't have a 'sinnerometer' to measure the sincerity of those clubs, but they either genuinely regret what they've done or realise they have some way to go to redress their image. But we have clubs who have come a long way to establishing clear lines of communication, genuine supporter engagement." Miles