IFR chair David Kogan says he will quit if politically pressured over Manchester City ruling

David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator, said on Tuesday at the launch of the State of the Game report that he will resign if he faces political pressure over how to respond to Manchester City being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules over a nine-year period.

Kogan warned that he could remove City’s Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) should the independent commission’s damning verdict be upheld at the end of an ongoing appeal process and rejected concerns that the proximity of City’s ownership to Abu Dhabi’s rulers might prompt political intervention. “Our independence is absolute and my independence personally is absolute,” he said. “I [have] made it very clear … any form of political interference on the way we operate is going to result in my resigning from this role, and I stand by that completely. And, just to be crystal clear, we’ve come under absolutely no political pressure whatsoever on this or any other topic.”

Describing the regulator’s legal remit, Kogan said: “We have powers within the legislation that allow us to review not only owners and directors and senior executives, but also whether those owners are fit and proper ­people to run clubs going forward.” He outlined that such reviews require detailed investigation and legal advice: “That process is reliant on us ­having very detailed knowledge and information, which requires a ­certain amount of investigation. Then we would take judgments based on the legal advice that we then receive.”

Kogan added that the regulator deals with these matters regularly: “We deal with issues of this type much more frequently than you might realise because we are constantly looking at clubs,” and said any legal action against regulator decisions would be subject to a funding levy on clubs. He also flagged the regulator is preparing to introduce a new licensing regime for clubs later this season.

The State of the Game report, launched at the event, highlighted widening financial gaps and pervasive losses across the English football pyramid. The highest earning top-flight club currently earns 605 times the revenue of the lowest earning National League club, while 94% of the 116 clubs under the regulator’s regime posted a financial loss in 2025-26.

The report also found that 11 Football League clubs recorded costs that exceeded their income even once player wages had been stripped out. Kogan pointed to factors beyond the regulator’s control affecting club finances, including the expansion of the club calendar, the regulation of players’ agents and a recent rise in interest rates.

Kogan said a redistribution deal between the Premier League and the EFL could deliver immediate relief, arguing that parachute payments, while justified by the “colossal” drop in revenue on relegation, have had a “distortive effect that’s grown over the years.” He added that a deal reducing parachute payments while increasing money for all clubs “that will go some way towards looking at the ­distorted effect” and that once redistributed “you’re going to see a softening effect going through down the 116 clubs”.

The Premier League welcomed the report, saying: “It recognises what English football has built – the world’s most popular league, the leading second tier, and a pyramid of unmatched depth.” The league said a recent offer of financial redistribution to the EFL, understood to amount to £320m per season, “meets the ­objectives the IFR has set out in its report” and “remains ­committed to concluding a long-term partnership with the EFL that is fair, generous and ­balances the interests of all clubs.” The EFL said the findings “reinforce the EFL’s longstanding position that English football generates sufficient revenue to sustain both a successful Premier League and a thriving pyramid” and it remained “committed to working constructively with the Premier League and the regulator to secure a financial settlement in the interests of the whole game”.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said the report’s figures had “blown the doors off the game” and urged football authorities to “consider these findings for the good of the game, for the fans, and for the communities of which they are so often the bedrock.” The regulator’s next steps include progressing the licensing regime later this season and awaiting the outcome of Manchester City’s ongoing appeal, which could determine whether ADUG is removed if the commission’s verdict is ultimately upheld.