Richard Masters

British football executive

Richard Masters is a British football executive. He is the current chief executive of the Premier League, the highest tier of association football in England.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Richard Masters (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Companies

Premier LeagueBoard member⁵

Career

Occupation: business executive.⁴

Date not recordedBoard member, Premier League³

Legal issues and controversies

Controversies

"Small clubs" remark

On 16 January 2024, Masters described Nottingham Forest and Everton Football Clubs as "small clubs" during a session of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, prompting a furious reaction from fans and media alike. The chair of the CMS Committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, wrote to Masters asking him to clarify his comments, stating:

“Richard Masters’ implication that nine-times league title winners Everton and double European Cup winners Nottingham Forest are ‘small clubs’ will have raised eyebrows with fans. To suggest clubs are categorised according to size raises wider questions about whether every member of the league truly does receive treatment that is fair and consistent."

Governance review

On 22 July 2021, Tracey Crouch MP, chair of the fan-led review into the UK's football governance, announced that the Premier League under Masters had "lost the trust and confidence" of fans within the review's interim findings. The review further recommended that a new Independent Football Regulator be created to oversee the league's governance.

APT regulations crisis

On 9 October 2024, Masters withdrew from a high-level golf event with key Premier League broadcasters to focus on the crisis surrounding the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) regulations. On 7 October 2024, an independent tribunal had ruled that the league’s regulations were unlawful following a legal challenge from Manchester City. Masters was due to chair a subsequent emergency meeting between all twenty Premier League clubs on 17 October 2024.

Newcastle United takeover

On 9 September 2020, Masters was accused by Newcastle United of not "acting appropriately" in relation to the Premier League's blocking of the attempted takeover of the club by a consortium consisting of PCP Capital Partners, Reuben Brothers and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. This followed accusations from the consortium that the Premier League had deliberately misapplied their Owners' and Directors' test in order to frustrate the deal, due to improper influence from various third parties to block it. On 29 September 2021, a competition appeal tribunal heard that Masters and the Premier League "abused its position" after it was "improperly influenced" by outside agencies such as the Qatari owned media outlet, BeIN Sports.

On 28 March 2023, Masters told the MPs that he could not comment on whether Newcastle's connection with Saudi Arabia was being reinvestigated following a US court case, which described the Saudi PIF as "a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". The court case also said about the PIF governor and the Newcastle chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, that he is "a sitting minister of the government" with "sovereign immunity". It raised concerns about the degree of independence between PIF and Newcastle.