Leeds chief executive Angus Kinnear has slammed plans for English football to introduce an independent regulator, comparing the proposals to Maoism and the Great Leap Forward.
Tracey Crouch’s fan-led review made 47 recommendations, with an independent regulator and increased power for supporters among them.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has criticised the proposals and believes they will have a harmful affect on the English game.
And writing in his programme notes ahead of Leeds’ clash with Palace, Kinnear made his opinions abundantly clear.
“The two most significant recommendations are as flawed as they are radical,” he wrote.
“The first is the demand for independent regulation and the second is an increased transfer levy to redistribute increased funds further down the football pyramid.
“These proposals have been conflated to address the very separate issues of the demise of Bury, the threat of the European Super League and the takeover of Newcastle United.
“Football is a private sector business and has flourished that way. Enforcing upon football a philosophy akin to Maoist collective agriculturalism (which students of ‘The Great Leap Forward’ will know culminated in the greatest famine in history) will not make the English game fairer, it will kill the competition which is its very lifeblood.”
Gary Neville responded to Kinnear’s comments on Twitter.
He tweeted: “Anyone remember when Leeds United were in the Championship sweating like crazy over their own financial state if they didn’t go up.
“How has it come to this within 12 months? A sorry state of affairs. Surely even Leeds fans don’t like these programme notes on the Fan Led Review.”
