Former professional footballer Pat Nevin has described fears over the long-term survival of London football clubs as “scary, worrying times”.
A report released on Tuesday by the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) revealed that many clubs are at serious risk of collapse, with English football “standing on the edge of financial disaster”.
Despite being the world’s richest domestic league system, with revenues of £9 billion in 2025/26, 94% of clubs reported losses during that period.
According to the IFR, smaller clubs in the English Football League (EFL) – the Championship, League One and League Two – are at greater risk, with the gap to the Premier League described as a “revenue cliff-edge”.
Nevin, a former Chelsea and Scotland player who is now a football pundit, spoke about the potential impact of teams disappearing.
He said: “A football club goes so far beyond 11 players running out every weekend.
“They’re a gigantic part of our social structure. These are scary, worrying times.”
Nevin explained that a football club not only provides trade for local businesses, but also a sense of local pride and a vital social hub.
He said: “In the old days you used to have religion – people don’t have that anymore.
“I know people who are lonely the whole week and speak to no one, and then go to their game, and that’s it.”
The IFR’s draft report recommends reforming the distribution of revenue, reducing clubs’ losses and improving financial risk management to make the game more sustainable.
Nevin has experience managing financial trouble at a football club, having served as chief executive of Scottish club Motherwell in 2002 when it went into administration.
He said: “I was trying really hard to stop the owner spending money, and I couldn’t do it.
“That’s the madness of when people get into football; they lose normal business sense.”
The IFR report also found more than a quarter of clubs would be unable to survive for more than 30 days if their owners withdrew funding.
Matthew Evans, 23, owner and chairman of non-league club East Sheen FC, revealed the extent of the challenges facing smaller London clubs.
Evans said: “We’re bleeding money. That’s just the deal. The higher up you get in the industry, the more money is being bled.”
His ownership group invests around £20,000 annually in pursuit of rising up the football leagues.
Nevin said this underlined the growing pressures on clubs to take greater financial risks.
He said: “Everyone’s pushing towards the edge, and if you don’t, you get pushed out.
“Football is an elitist business, there can only be a certain number of winners. But cruising around the mid-table is absolutely and utterly unacceptable for some fans.”
Simeon Gholam, EFL editor at Sky Sports, described it as a Catch-22 situation.
He said: “Modern football is an absolute mess in a lot of ways. It’s a surprise when you see clubs turn a profit.”
However, he said nothing was likely to change without the agreement of the richest Premier League clubs, such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
He said: “I’d put in a spending cap at all levels – but big clubs who have higher spending capacities wouldn’t sign on to that.”
Nevin is slightly more optimistic, arguing that removing the estimated £5 billion of debt in English football would go a long way towards solving the problem.
But both agree that smaller clubs need protecting, for the sake of fans and the wider community.
Gholam said: “They are the ones who lose out if these clubs disappear.
“Football means so much to people and that is why it can never be treated like a normal industry.
“There are many EFL clubs, a lot smaller than some of the big dogs at the top, who are way more important in the community.”
At East Sheen FC, Evans is seeing the community impact unfold in front of his eyes.
He said: “Nowadays we are lacking third spaces. Clubs like East Sheen are a place for people to meet mates and to learn about themselves.”
In a statement on Tuesday in response to the IFR’s report, the Premier League said it “remains committed to concluding a long-term partnership with the EFL that is fair, generous and balances the interests of all clubs.”
It comes amid wider controversy over football finances, after an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules in September.
The commission found that City had disguised more than £830 million of owner funding as sponsorship income over nine seasons. The club denies wrongdoing and has appealed the verdict.
Featured image credit: Joppe Spaa, Unsplash
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