Football 2025: Fair Game experts reveal football's winners under new Independent Regulator criteria

• • 92% of clubs outside the Premier League would be better off under new model for financial flow 
  • AFC Wimbledon crowned England’s best-run club by the Fair Game Index, with Brentford setting the standard in the Premier League
  • Representatives of top 10 Fair Game Index clubs AFC Wimbledon, Cambridge United, Lincoln City and Tranmere Rovers available for interview
  • Full breakdown and Fair Game spokespeople available on request 

Fair Game today released the results of the Fair Game Index, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive state-of-play analysis of England’s clubs.  
 
The Fair Game Index rates each club on four criteria - financial sustainability, good governance, equality standards and fan engagement – all measures set to come under the remit of football’s new Independent Regulator in time for the 2024/25 season.  
 
In the White Paper, A sustainable future – reforming club football governance, published on 23 February 2023, along with pledging to commit to a new Independent Regulator for English Football, the Government also stated that it will introduce a State of Play Survey for Football.

Fair Game partnered with world-renowned independent experts and organisations in football to create that survey. 
The Index focuses on the four key criteria, using over 80 different touchpoints, to create the most comprehensive analysis of the top 92 clubs in the English pyramid ever produced.

AFC Wimbledon emerge as England’s best run club with an overall score of 73.58 out of 100. The Premier League’s top club are Brentford. 
 
Championship side Plymouth Argyle boast a perfect score in the Financial Sustainability metric, whilst League One’s Cambridge United set the standard for Good Governance. Exeter City are the highest scorers for Fan Engagement, with Lincoln taking the honours for Equality Standards. In fact, clubs in Sky Bet League’s One and Two scored higher overall across all four criteria than their counterparts in the Sky Bet Championship.
 
Fair Game is calling for the abolition of the much talked about parachute payments which allow a club relegated from the Premier League to receive £45m over three seasons. This figure is more than the Premier League gives to all 48 clubs in Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two as well as all 72 in the National League, meaning that one club receives more than 120 combined!
 
The combined cost of Parachute Payments over three seasons could pay for half of all clubs (outside the Premier League) to have new hospitality facilities, a 4G standard pitch, a Category 3 academy, and an award-winning community programme for an entire year.  
 
Crucially, Fair Game’s financial experts and partners have also concluded that to properly transform the game, the Index must be used as the Government’s “backstop” criteria for any financial deal between the Premier League, the FA and the English Football League over the distribution of TV revenues.
 
Clubs would receive a greater portion of the vast pie of television revenue the better they performed in the Index.  Well-run clubs would be rewarded for upholding the values fans demand of their clubs, providing a financial incentive which could end the era of unscrupulous owners and financial mismanagement.
 
In this model, 92% of clubs below the Premier League would benefit.
 
Mark Middling, Director of Financial Policy for Fair Game and Senior Lecturer in Accounting at Northumbria University, said:
 
“Football is unsustainable. Since the start of the Premier League, there have been 64 incidents of clubs in the top four divisions going into administration.
 
“Companies House data reveals that 44 of the top 92 were technically insolvent in 2022, and  31% of clubs were spending more than they earn on players’ wages - that figure rises to 68% when you look at the Championship.
 
“And of course we have seen the collapse of Bury and Macclesfield, with numerous other clubs on the brink.
 
“The culture of penalties to control clubs has failed. Football needs a reboot.”
 
Greg Campbell, partner at Campbell Tickell and leading expert on regulative practices in the UK, said:
 
"The most effective kind of regulation is not simply about the regulator waving a big stick: it’s ‘co-regulation’, where organisations being regulated are encouraged and incentivised to improve, leading to better and more effective outcomes.
 
“What is impressive about the Fair Game Index is that it would build in rewards for clubs that demonstrate good practice in such areas as their governance, financial management, fan engagement, and promotion of diversity and inclusion, and the way they engage with and support their local communities. In short, this model would be a great asset for a new Independent Regulator for Football and help create a fairer future for our National Game.”
 
Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game, added:
 
“There will be a new regulator. There will be a new state of play survey for football. There will be new financial flow.
 
“The Fair Game Index paints a realistic picture of what our game could look like, a future where football chooses to reward well-run clubs.
 
“Fair Game are working hard with communities, experts, football interest groups, fans, clubs and politicians to transform this picture into reality.
 
“For the first time, the building blocks are in place.”
 
Couper added:  
 
“Premier League clubs have rejected calls to increase the financial flow through the pyramid because of risky financial behaviour by some clubs in the EFL. Distributing more money through the Index to the better run clubs in the pyramid resolves those concerns.”