David Kogan: Football regulator’s proposed chair donated to Labour leadership campaigns

The government’s preferred choice as chair of English football’s new independent regulator contributed money to the leadership campaigns of Sir Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

David Kogan told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he was being “utterly transparent” by declaring donations which “hadn’t been discovered by the press”.

The sports media rights executive said he had donated “very small sums” to the 2020 campaigns, as well as thousands of pounds to Labour MPs and candidates in recent years, but had “total personal independence from all of them”.

Nandy said Kogan – who also sat on the board of Labour news website LabourList – was the “outstanding candidate” to fill the position when he was announced as preferred choice in April.

Conservative shadow sports minister Louie French said the failure to disclose the donations when first put forward for the role was “a clear breach of the governance code on public appointments”.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Kogan had been appointed through a “fair and open competition”.

The Football Governance Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament after being reintroduced by the Labour government in October, will establish a first independent regulator for the professional men’s game in England.

The legislation will hand power to a body independent from government and football authorities to oversee clubs in England’s top five divisions.

In a wide-ranging ‘pre-appointment hearing’, Kogan – a former BBC journalist who also previously advised the Premier League, EFL and other leagues on broadcast rights – said he wants to put “fans at the heart of the regulator” and help the football pyramid “survive”.

So what else did we learn from the man who could become one of the most powerful people in English football?