The chair of the Premier League will next month stand for a second three-year term as it awaits the outcome of a landmark case against Manchester City Football Club over scores of alleged breaches of its financial rules.
Sky News has learnt that Dharmash Mistry, the Premier League’s senior independent director, has in recent weeks been canvassing the top flight’s 20 clubs, including Arsenal, Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers, about their support for Alison Brittain.
Ms Brittain’s initial term as chair expires at the end of the year.
Insiders said clubs would be asked to vote on her re-election for a further three years at a Premier League shareholder meeting on November 21.
Papers outlining the agenda for the meeting, including the chair’s re-election until the end of 2028, are expected to be distributed early next week.
One source said that clubs had indicated “overwhelming” support for the former Whitbread chief executive to continue in the role, which comes at a time of significant political change in English football.
“Her re-election is a formality,” one club source said on Wednesday.
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Ms Brittain, a former Lloyds Banking Group executive, now chairs the home furnishings retailer Dunelm, and also sits on the board of the FTSE-100 credit referencing agency Experian.
Some club executives have expressed concern during the last three years about the extent of her other business commitments, although the Premier League board is said to be unanimous in its backing for her stewardship of the organisation.
Ms Brittain was announced as the successor to interim chair Peter McCormick in July 2022.
Mr McCormick stepped into the role following the departure of Gary Hoffman, who stepped down amid club executives’ disquiet over the Premier League’s handling of Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle United.
While support for Ms Brittain’s re-election is not in doubt, the spectre of a judgement in the Premier League’s case against Manchester City continues to hang over the top flight.
The independent commission overseeing the case concluded its probe roughly ten months ago, but there remains little clarity about the timing of an outcome.
A judgement which is interpreted as favourable to Manchester City would inevitably apply pressure to senior Premier League officials.
The enmity between Abu Dhabi-owned City and many of its fellow top flight sides has reached unprecedented levels in the last year.
A separate case relating to so-called associated party transactions involving the Etihad-sponsored club was settled on undisclosed terms last month.
The issue of a new financial model for the top flight will also be on the agenda at next month’s shareholder meeting.
Clubs will be asked to vote on the introduction of a new squad cost ratio model, as well as a system of anchoring that would limit clubs’ spending on wages and transfers to a maximum of five times the sum handed by the Premier League to the club which finishes in 20th place.
There has been little progress in the last six months on moves to reach a financial redistribution deal between the Premier League and English Football League, despite intensive discussions earlier in the year.
The launch of the Independent Football Regulator – chaired by broadcast veteran David Kogan and run by former EY partner Richard Monks – is likely to yield progress on that front sometime next year, club executives believe.
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The Premier League declined to comment on the proposed re-election of Ms Brittain.
