Charlton co-owner Charlie Methven has accused Crystal Palace and West Ham of holding the game back following the Premier League shareholders’ meeting.
The Premier League announced on Monday that controversial Profit and Sustainability rules were going to be replaced, following high-profile breaches.
However, no offer of increased funding was forthcoming to the EFL despite being mooted.
Top-flight sources had expressed hope prior to the meeting, which could have been decisive after what was described as a ‘staging’ meeting on February 29.
However, the meeting ended without an offer being made, with the top flight’s clubs feeling it is first essential they thrash out a new financial system which will ultimately replace the current profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
A six-year deal granting the EFL 14.75 per cent of net media revenue with the Premier League – projected to be worth in the region of £900million – has previously been mooted, but Premier League clubs are now prioritising an agreement on their own financial model before speaking to the EFL.
The Government has repeatedly said it wants the football authorities to agree a new financial settlement amongst themselves, but has warned that one could be imposed upon them by ‘backstop’ powers set to be given to the new independent regulator.
Methven told talkSPORT: “This is just a bunch of jargon words to paper over the cracks of they haven’t done what they said they were going to do.
“They told the EFL they would come back with a comprehensive offer, they told the government to come back with a deal that would be appropriate, and they failed to do so.
“Their communications department has had to come back with some words that will pull the wool over enough people’s eyes and kick the can down the road. It allows the clubs who are against it, to live and breathe for another day.
“The majority of Premier League clubs are fully realistic and know this deal has to be done. It’s a minority of clubs who are against it and are holding the industry back.
“It’s two clubs not far from Charlton, one a little bit to the north and one a little bit to the south west. They’ve got just enough clubs to stop the industry from moving forward.”
He continued: “The situation is quite clear, it’s understood by the Football League that any deal would come with strings attached, the Championship likely to subscribe to a different cost control scheme.
“That was always understood and understood by the EFL that we would have swallow a few pills to get the deal done.
“There was a deal presented to us in September by the Premier League that we accepted. We knew we would have to ascribe to a new cost control scheme.
“There are a few Premier League clubs that are holding the industry back and are driving the rest of the industry mad for only thinking of their own short-term, narrow self-interest. Frankly, everything else is just noise.”
When asked to specifically name the two clubs who are holding this back, he named two London rivals.
Methven said: “It’s on record that Palace and West Ham are leaders of this King Canute style movement. It’s not yet a matter of public record of which clubs they’ve persuaded to be in their corner.
“If you speak to executives from other clubs in the Premier League, they are almost as frustrated as we are. They know because they see a bigger strategic vision of what will happen with the public regulator.
“It’s probably more likely to end up with a scenario they dread, which is reformation of the parachute payments, which would make a difference to these guys.
When asked by talkSPORT’s Jim White on his message to Palace and West Ham, Methven said: “Grow up. Remember that these clubs, the clubs they run, were very recently football league members and the fact that in a game of musical chairs they are in the seats they are currently at.
“It doesn’t mean that at some point that their clubs won’t be back in the football league.”
