Barrow AFC is being urged to sign up to the Fair Game campaign to help make football better.
Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell wants the Bluebirds to join the 30-strong group, which includes Carlisle United.
The group is supported by 40 world-renowned experts and last week outlined its final proposals in the 48-page document Putting Pride Back In The Shirt.
Central to the proposals is a Sustainability Index which looks at reallocating the parachute payments to clubs throughout the football pyramid that can prove they are run well, respect equality standards and properly engage with their fans and their community.
Fair Game also believes fans should be given the final say on any proposed change to a club’s ‘crown jewels’, which includes the club’s name, nickname, colours, badge and the geographical location of where the club plays.
The timing coincides with the Government’s Football Governance Review being led by the Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, which is expected to publish its final report in the next couple of weeks.
Mr Fell said: “Football is so important to the people of Barrow. Fair Game wants to ensure that clubs will be there for the long term and I fully support that.
“We need to move towards a funding model that rewards and incentivises well-run clubs. At the moment a club relegated from the Premier League gets £55m – that’s more than all the clubs in League One and League Two put together.
“Let’s reallocate that and ring-fence it so that most of that money goes to the excellent work clubs do in the community. That is ethical capitalism.
“Properly embedding football in the communities is the root to safeguarding the future of our clubs and is at the very heart of Fair Game’s ethos – that makes sense to me and I urge Barrow AFC to join them.”
Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game, said: “I cannot thank Simon Fell enough for his support. This really is the moment to transform our national game.
“Fair Game want fans to be able to walk down the street wearing their team shirt proud in everything it stands for and safe in the knowledge that their club will be there for the long term.
“Tracey Crouch has opened the door to a bright new future and with Simon Fell’s backing, the chance of her hard work coming to fruition has just moved a step closer.”
