Peter Swallow

Reading football club is a community club. I have fond memories of going to Madejski stadium as a kid as part of a project with local schools—just one example of the fantastic work that clubs across this country do in their communities. Unfortunately, Reading also offers a stark warning of what the bad management of football clubs can do to communities, and the effect it can have on the beautiful game, as was so eloquently touched on by my hon. Friends the Members for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang), for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey) and for Reading Central (Matt Rodda). I thank the Sell Before We Dai campaign and the Supporters Trust at Reading, whose chair is my constituent. The Football Governance Bill will come too late for Reading, but I am determined that it will be there to protect clubs that find themselves in that invidious position in future. It is a good Bill. It was supported by the Tories in the previous Parliament, and that is why we have picked it up now, yet the Leader of the Opposition insists on opposing it. In her opinion, giving fans a say on how their own clubs are run would be a “waste of money”. Well, in the Tory game of political point scoring, it is fans who stand to lose out. I ask the Minister to speak a little about support for clubs below the national league. Bracknell Town football club has been moved out of Bracknell by its owners, and it would be great to see—