Member

I have heard noble Lords mention on a few occasions how bad it was that, for example, a club only had £25,000-worth of cash. That is not looking at the whole picture, because it does not matter how much cash there is; it is whether the club has assets to cover it. Most companies—nearly every company in the FTSE—will have net debt rather than cash. That is called an efficient use of your balance sheet. Anyone with a mortgage—which, let us face it, is a lot of people—will have net debt rather than overall cash. Again, I think most people would say that buying a home is a responsible thing to do. What matters is that you have the overall assets to cover your liabilities, and your overall balance sheet. This amendment seeks to require the regulator to look at the overall financial health of a club and look at all the assets—the players on their books, the stadium and all of them. I hope that noble Lords would agree that is very sensible.