The big hints about the major changes looming in football and what they could mean for Sunderland

The Government is expected to finally publish its white paper on the future of governance in football in the near future, fifteen months after Tracey Crouch’s Fan-Led Review of Football Governance. The white paper is expected to back the introduction of an independent regulator to oversee the running of the game and to help guard against many of the ownership issues that have blighted the EFL and beyond in recent times.

EFL Chairman Rick Parry said yesterday that he expects this to come into force through a licensing system, whereby the regulator has the power to impose certain conditions on clubs and in extreme cases, withdraw the licence to play in leagues

Parry says the EFL back that move and believe it will help ensure costs are controlled and only help ensure clubs are run in a solvent fashion.

However, the EFL have long argued that regulation with only be effective if it is matched with better redistribution of the games riches, with the vast majority of EFL clubs dependent on owner funding to survive.

They are proposing increasing the payments from the Premier League to the divisions below, but in the process abolishing parachute payments. To do this, they would distribute revenue to Championship clubs on a merit basis, depending on league position. This, Parry says, would half the gap in revenue between the top club in the second tier and the bottom club in the top tier - reducing the need to reckless spending on wages in the Championship.

So far, the Premier League have resisted this proposal and talks have been deadlocked.

Parry hopes that the introduction of a regulator could help accelerate the process, and even hinted on Monday that the EFL would be prepared to discuss the future of the Carabao Cup if it helped the talks.

“We’ve been pushing for the regulator to have power to redistribute revenue, clearly," Parry said.

"That will come as no surprise. We’ve made it very clear that without redistribution this is not going to work. The Government has always been reluctant to get on the front foot and for a regulator to order the leagues what to do.

"We think what the white paper will say that the regulator has back stop powers in that if the leagues can’t solve redistribution themselves, then there will be a process, some sort of arbitration process, where the regulator has the ability to step in.

“The idea is that will be a powerful incentive for the leagues to get it sorted rather than rely on the regulator.

“We don’t want to sit back and wait for the regulator to be in post.

"We want to solve the problem with the Premier League now but it hasn’t been solved in the last 30 years. We haven’t got any negotiating strength, we don’t have anything to sell, and clearly it’s been an enormous challenge making progress to date."

There is as of yet no set date for the publication of the white paper, which had initially been intended to publish earlier this month.