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Football Governance

I absolutely agree. It is an amazement to Portsmouth fans, who after just 10 minutes on Google have discovered that someone should not be anywhere near their club, that somehow that person is allowed to become an owner of it. The other issue that the fans would want me to mention is the creditors rule. I shall not steal the thunder of my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins), but I will pay tribute to the staff at Portsmouth football club, who have done a lot of work in repairing the damage that was done by the rule the last time they were in this situation. They have worked very hard to rebuild both trust and the support of local businesses and charities. We must all keep the pressure on for reform. I am pleased that tomorrow morning Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs will be back around the table with Portsmouth football club, but I sincerely hope that we get a result from the dialogue. If it fails, the supporters' trust and all in our city will rally behind a community buy-out, and I would welcome the Minister's views on that and his support. I take this opportunity to praise his involvement. We all agree that he is a genuine champion for the reforms, and I welcome the Government's response to the Committee's report. Finally, I want to say that Portsmouth will survive. We all know that a club's true and unique value lies in its fans; the question is how. Whatever course of action the trust and the fans take will be greatly strengthened by the report's proposals and strong message. We must, therefore, all get on with implementing the report's recommendations.