God. The absolute state of this. Another day, another political appointment that stinks to high heaven. The Conservatives are absolutely fuming after discovering the man chosen to lead the new football regulator has been quietly slipping cash to Labour bigwigs - including the very minister now overseeing his appointment!
Who the hell is David Kogan anyway?
So this Kogan bloke has spent his career as some hotshot media consultant, basically telling the Premier League and EFL how to make billions from TV rights. He's also sat on the board of LabourList (surprise, surprise) - that Labour-friendly news site that might as well be printing Starmer's press releases.
When dragged before MPs at a Commons committee, he admitted to making what he called "very small sums" in donations to Labour leadership campaigns. Conveniently, these donations apparently fell just below teh threshold where they'd need to be publicly declared. How... fortunate.
The awkward money trail
Here's where it gets proper messy. Kogan apparently donated to Lisa Nandy during her 2020 leadership bid. The same Lisa Nandy who is now... wait for it... Culture Secretary! The person ultimately responsible for football regulation!
I remember watching a football match back in 2018 with my brother-in-law (die-hard Newcastle fan) when he went on a 20-minute rant about how the game's governance was corrupt. "Just wait," he told me, "they'll put some political lackey in charge eventually." Hate to say it, but he called it.
Nothing to see here, folks! (Yeah, right)
Kogan's defense is almost laughable. He claims he has "total personal independence" from everyone he's donated to and has "never actually been particularly close to any of the individuals." Riiiight.
He even claimed he's never had a one-on-one meeting with Starmer and hasn't seen him since he became PM.
Listen. I'm not saying he's lying, but that's a pretty convenient narrative.
Tories smell blood
Shadow Sports Minister Louie French isn't buying any of it. He's calling for a full investigation, claiming the failure to disclose these donations when Kogan was nominated represents "a clear breach of the governance code on public appointments."
"Fans were promised an impartial and independent regulator, but instead they are being handed a political appointee whose impartiality is already in question," French said.
My mate who works in sports governance (poor Dave) texted me this morning: "This is exactly why people don't trust the process. Spent $3K on a governance qualification just to watch this circus."
Downing Street's shoulder shrug
Number 10's response? Basically the political equivalent of "whatever." They insist Kogan's appointment followed "fair and open competition" and was run "in accordance with the Government's code on public appointments."
The spokesman added: "The declaration process as set out by the rules has obviously been followed. The process for appointing him to the role has been followed and will continue to be followed."
Translation: We're not backing down.
I've covered sports politics for nearly a decade now, adn this feels like the same old story playing out again. Different faces, same game.
Football fans deserve better than this. They really do.
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