Plans to create a new European Super League amount to a “cartel”, the prime minister said today as the government paved the way for millions of football fans to have a greater say in the future running of the game. Speaking before a series of clubs signalled their intention to pull out of the ESL, Boris Johnson used a coronavirus press conference to condemn the proposed league – in which 15 founder members, including six English clubs, could never be relegated – as “against the basic principles of competition” and “propelled by the billions of banks”. At an earlier meeting with football chiefs and fans, Johnson promised to use “a legislative bomb” to scupper the breakaway competition if football authorities were unable to stymie the move on their own. While the hope remains to avoid direct government intervention through a new law or regulation, the row has seemingly emboldened ministers over wider plans to reform the governance of English football, tilting the power balance more towards fans than billionaire owners. Football was “one of the great glories of this country’s cultural heritage”, Johnson told the Downing Street press conference, adding: “How can it be right when you have a situation where you create a kind of cartel that stops clubs competing against each other?” He condemned the idea that clubs could be “dislocated from their home cities, taken and turned into international brands and commodities that just circulate the planet, propelled by the billions of banks, without any reference to the fans and those who have loved them all their lives”. Sajid Javid called for a special tax to penalise Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur if they joined the ESL. The former chancellor last year took a senior advisory role at JP Morgan, which is financing the new league. Nonetheless, Javid – whose role at the US bank is unconnected to the ESL plan – called for a tax on the clubs’ owners which would “splash enough red ink on their spreadsheets to quickly put an end to these destructive, anti-competitive proposals”. At an earlier meeting on Tuesday with the Football Association and Premier League, as well as representatives of fans’ groups, Johnson said: “We should drop a legislative bomb to stop it – and we should do it now.” He gave no details, however, and officials have been similarly vague about specific proposals. Quizzed at the press conference, Johnson said legislation “remains something that we will bring to the forefront if we have to”. He added: “What we want to do first of all is back the Football Association, back the Premier League, and hope that we can thwart this proposal before it goes very much further.” The prime minister gave a strong hint that one long-term solution could be to oblige English clubs to give fans a majority stake, based on the so-called 50+1 system used in Germany. Asked whether he supported the German model, Johnson said this was ultimately a matter for a review into football governance led by Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP and former sports minister, announced on Monday. “I really wouldn’t want to pre-empt what she’s going to say,” Johnson said. “But I know she’s very interested in those sorts of models, and what that may or may not involve.” One of the inadvertent effects of the ESL plan, announced on Sunday by the six English clubs and three teams each from Italy and Spain, has been to give new impetus and immediacy for a fan-based review. While the idea was in the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto, ministers had decided to wait until the disruption of the Covid pandemic was over. However, the ESL plan prompted them to move immediately. If an interim government-led solution was needed, one proposal, put forward by the Liberal Democrats, would be for a simple, rapid parliamentary bill which would oblige and English clubs to ballot season ticket holders before entering a new competition. Other ideas being considered by the government include penalising English clubs which joined the ESL by withdrawing cooperation in areas such as work visas and policing. Asked if this could happen, Johnson’s spokesman said: “All these options are on the table at the moment.” Any such plan would easily pass through parliament. As well as the Lib Dems, Labour stressed on Tuesday that it would support a new law on the issue. “If the government is determined to do something about it, we will back them,” Keir Starmer told a separate event with fans. “There is no block in parliament to action if action is needed.”