ITV just had Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer on, in an interview about the independent regulator. They seemed to be trying to get her off the subject of protecting small clubs from the start, on to state ownership and super rich owners.
Ed Balls, was trying to corner her and draw parallels between the government stance on the Independent(news outlet) takeover and that of Manchester City's ownership: 'They're both owned by the UAE why are the government against a newspaper being owned by a state but not a football club' Was the gist of his argument.
She didn't seem well informed enough/equipped enough to give him a full rebuttal, one that explained everything wrong with his question. She only half explained why a news outlet being owned by a state is different from a football club, freedom of the press being the justification.
I wish someone would have the 'balls'(no pun) to point out that the big sly 3 have been using the main stream media for their soft power purposes for many years now. The whole: 'what about City, there's 115 charges don't you know?' campaign has been orchestrated by them. I wouldn't be surprised if we found out this is all they wanted, that the PL have no evidence, that they are the ones that want this hearing pushed back as far as possible, so the free for all can continue.
When I look at how useless OFCOM appear to be, allowing free for alls, zero balance coverage and trials by media on football clubs, that last years. I have to wonder if we are being a little too optimistic, on the positive changes it will bring, such as ending the control the big red 3 seem to hold over how the PL is ran.