The GUARDIAN newspaper reports that ideas,due to be included in the Labour manifesto with a promise of action in the first year of government,are designed to give fans a far greater say in how their football clubs are run.
It is believed that No 10, which has been working secretly on plans for weeks has resolved to deliver concrete proposals to tackle growing public disquiet at the level of debt carried by some clubs. the ownership of others and the dysfunctional structure of the Football Association.
The plans which do not mention the Scottish Football Association are likely to put Gordon Brown on a collision course with the Premier League. which has vigourously defended its free market model in recent years, but he will claim that the proposals are good for the game.
Portsmouth's financial collapse,the outpouring of anger in response to the leveraged buyouts at Manchester United and Liverpool that loaded the clubs with combined debts of more than £1bn, and last week's shock resignation of the FA chief excutive Ian Watmore in protest at "vested interests" on the board have all understood to have persuaded the prime minister to act.
The ownership of certain clubs by wealthy foreign sugar daddies which distorts and inflates transfer fees etc. has also forced the prime minister's hand.