Football watchdog insist on assurances

FOOTBALL clubs will need to have the resources to withstand financial shocks

- Jamie Gard- ner

OOTBALL clubs will need to have the resources to withstand financial shocks as the watchdog seeks to prevent teams from going bust, writes Jamie Gardner.

All 116 clubs in the top five tiers of the English game, including Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City, will ultimately need to demonstrate to the independent football regulator (IFR) they can survive adverse events, like relegation and the withdrawal of owner funding, in order to gain a licence to play.

IFR chair David Kogan said last month that for many clubs relegation was “a near death sentence’, such was the marginal nature of their finances.