Burnham has not shied away from clashing with the Premier League and football’s authorities.
In 2023, he wrote to Premier League insisting that Everton’s 10-point penalty for breaching profit and sustainability rules should be declared “null and void”.
There should be no concerns about the future of the independent football regulator, set up by Nandy and whose powers are just starting to kick in.
In 2020, Burnham was the co-author of a manifesto for change called ‘Saving Our Beautiful Game’.
It laid out a number of recommendations, including “an effective and independent body to oversee the financial regulation of the game”.
Burnham has long been involved with fans’ groups and he founded Supporters Direct, one of the forerunner organisations to the Football Supporters’ Association.
He backs expanding supporter ownership and representation, in 2022 creating a taskforce for fans to buy Oldham Athletic., external
The club was eventually bought by local businessman Frank Rothwell, with the supporters’ foundation taking a 3% shareholding and a seat on the board.
There could be a ban on unlicensed casinos from sponsoring sports teams, too, with Burnham a long-time critic of the negative effects of gambling.
An eight-week consultation has opened, external to consider proposals. Burnham’s Everton have a link to Stake.com, a crypto casino without a licence to operate in the UK.
Burnham was also a staunch supporter of justice for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
His work as an MP partly led to the Hillsborough Law, which was passed last week and is intended to prevent cover-ups linked to failures of the state.
When Burham was at the DCMS he ordered the first review of the “crown jewels” sports events in 10 years.
It recommended that the home Ashes cricket series be made free-to-view, but this was shelved when Labour lost power in 2010.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government had recently proposed new legislation to prevent streaming and catch-up rights being put behind a paywall for UK viewers.