SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Enzo Maresca of Leicester City looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Southampton FC and Leicester City at Friends Provident St. Mary's Stadium on September 15, 2023 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
Latest Leicester City news from LeicestershireLive as EFL chairman Rick Parry speaks out on Premier League plan
Championship clubs have been placed in a “horrendous position” over proposed new cost control measures, EFL chairman Rick Parry has said.
EFL clubs – including Leicester City – met last Thursday to discuss the detail of the proposed ‘New Deal’ with the Premier League, which covers a new financial settlement, cost controls and the domestic calendar.
The PA news agency understands the EFL has concerns over a proposal to allow clubs relegated from the Premier League – who are also set to continue to benefit from parachute payments in some form – to spend 85 per cent of their revenue on squad costs.
The EFL is understood to favour a much lower figure for its clubs in order to promote sustainability and help them prepare for the introduction of the independent regulator – closer to the 70 per cent ratio coming in at UEFA level.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that the dilemma facing Championships clubs is that they pretty much have to decide whether they want to be sustainable or competitive,” Parry said at the ‘Power of Football’ event at the Conservative Party Conference.
“The two are pretty much mutually exclusive, which is a pretty horrendous position to be in.”
Premier League clubs outside of the traditional ‘big six’ see the higher-ratio percentage as essential to helping them compete with those in regular receipt of Champions League cash while within the top flight, and to ensure the the league stays competitive and therefore attractive to broadcasters.
Sources have also said the key principle behind keeping the 85 per cent ratio upon relegation is to help clubs work to reduce their cost base.
Parry added: “It’s going to be difficult to persuade 14 clubs in the Premier League to vote for major change and to support those lower down.
“They tend to forget sometimes where they’ve come from and, bluntly, where they’re likely to go back to relatively soon, but that’s the nature of the game.
“Nobody wants disproportionate intervention. Nobody wants to dumb down the Premier League, this is about making clubs sustainable, it’s not about putting them out of business.”
The EFL is now engaging in targeted consultation with its clubs before it resumes talks with the Premier League over ‘New Deal’.
PA understands there is unlikely to be any push back on the financial settlement aspect of the deal.
EFL clubs are set to receive 14.75 per cent of pooled domestic and international media revenues with the Premier League over a six-year period, which is forecast to lead to an uplift in funding of more than £900million. This percentage excludes parachute payments to relegated clubs and a transfer levy which provides support to club academies.
On the calendar, the EFL clubs were told FA Cup replays and the second leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals could be scrapped as part of ‘New Deal’, while there could be an increase in the number of EFL Trophy matches, with Premier League clubs keen to get further competitive playing time for their under-21 teams.
