Tracey Crouch MP, the chair of the fan-led governance review of football, has indicated that a new proposed owners’ and directors’ test would not necessarily have blocked the PIF takeover of Newcastle. Giving evidence to a parliamentary select committee in response to her report, Crouch declined to say that her proposed new measures would have led to a different outcome.

“I haven’t seen all the details of the Newcastle bid – my understanding is the Premier League received assurances of the legal separation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the [PIF] fund,” Crouch said. On her own proposals for a new test for owners that would take precedence from the current system, as well as an integrity test, she said “it is a test applied in other regulatory environments”.

Giving evidence to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, Crouch also claimed some Premier League clubs secretly supported her proposal for a statutory independent regulator. Crouch said of the 20 clubs that “some are in favour of an independent regulator underpinned by legislation; I know there are some who aren’t in favour, full stop, and some [in favour of] the independent regulator not underpinned by statutory regulation.”

The 20 clubs met on Friday to formulate their opposition to any of the 47 recommendations in the fan-led review of football governance. So far the only publicly-voiced opinions from clubs on the regulator proposal since the review’s publication have been opposition, although Burnley’s American owner, Alan Pace, wrote an open letter to his club’s fans in April calling for a statutory regulator.

Burnley were asked on Tuesday whether that was still the case. A spokesman for Pace, who bought an 84 per cent stake in the club in December last year, declined to comment.

Crouch said that she believed the Premier League would adopt a position of opposition to the statutory independent regulator and instead suggest an alternative housed within the Football Association. She praised the league for its ability to promote itself around the world, describing it as the “wealthiest … and able to attract the best talent”. “What it is less good at is the financial regulation and owners’ and directors’ [test] – that’s why we need an independent regulator. [One] where the vested interests are completely removed. Where decisions are being made transparently.”