You have to laugh at the Mail's Damascene conversion to socialist principles as soon as it's not the establishment clubs winning everything. Let's look at Holt's rationale for imposing an independent regulator on football;
"After everything that has happened in the past 18 months — the car crash of Project Big Picture, the backlash against the aborted European Super League, the shame of the approval of the Saudi Arabia bid for Newcastle United and the defrocking of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea — no one trusts them to run football any more"
What exactly has happened ? "Project Big Picture" ? In case, like Oliver Holt, you've forgotten;
"The plan, put together by Liverpool and Manchester United, would see teams in the EFL - ie the leagues below the Premier League - given £250m ($325m) right now, to share between themselves, plus 25% of revenue from future TV deals that the Premier League secures.
Those clubs, led by the EFL's chair Rick Parry, have been demanding money from the Premier League for some time, because they have been struggling financially in the absence of crowds due to Covid-19" -Ah..Liverpool and Manchester United.
European Super League ? In case, like Oliver Holt, you've forgotten;
"Barcelona president Joan Laporta has slammed
Manchester United and Liverpool by accusing the Premier League duo of being the 'real founders' of the failed
European Super League.
All three of the clubs were intended to be founding members of the failed ESL when it was initially announced back in April with United co-owner Joel Glazer one of the figures who publicly endorsed the controversial plans"
"The shame of the approval of the Saudi Arabia bid for Newcastle United" ? In case, like Oliver Holt, you have forgotten who was behind the appointment of the Premier League's chief decision maker;
"
Liverpool and Manchester United have left their Premier League rivals furious after reportedly having had special access to weigh up the candidates to be the new chief executive of the Premier League.
The two English giants met with candidates for the position, which had initially been taken up by Susanna Dinnage before the Animal Planet president pulled out of the appointment"
Which just leaves Abramovic. Maybe Holt criticised him and called him out before Putin's invasion of Ukraine but, if so, I can't find it. And, even so, who, at the proposed regulator's office will decide which wars are acceptable to football and which aren't. Who at the Regulator's will decide how close a person needs to be to another person to be deemed sufficiently responsible for that other person's actions ? One thing's certain. It can't and won't be someone independent.
In short, Oliver Holt isn't stupid enough not to know all that. The guy is, simply, a ****.