LEAGUES APART
Parry hits out at Prem for failing to strike deal to help EFL clubs
RICK PARRY is turning up the heat on the Premier League to reach a financial deal for the EFL.
Government sources say the Football Governance Bill is in the “absolute final stages” before entering Parliament – but the EFL insists the Premier League has yet to make a formal offer.
EFL chair Parry says the Premier League has missed an opportunity to strike a deal without leaving it up to a new independent regulator to impose a financial package.
He ridiculed the idea that the top flight cannot afford it and quoted mindboggling figures to show why the mega-rich elite should help, insisting they are spending an extra £500million on wages rather than giving £285m a year to the football pyramid.
Parry, who was addressing clubs and MPS at the Allparty Parliamentary Group for Football at the House of Lords, said: “We haven’t had an offer from the Premier League. That’s a matter of choice. They have decided not to make an offer.
“They could have done at any time
over the last 30 years – and they haven’t. It’s quite telling to look at the four years since we’ve been at this. In 2020, we really started saying we needed a fundamental financial reset.
“What’s happened since then? The White Paper published established there was a £4billion gap between the turnover of Premier League clubs and Championship clubs. By the time 2023 accounts are published, that will have grown to £5bn.
“Secondly, if we look at where the Premier League sits with other European leagues, in terms of competitive balance, we did some analysis in 2019 and discovered the Premier League was paying £1.6bn more than the other four major leagues in Europe.
“That’s an enormous chasm. Since then, that gap has widened to £2bn. They’re outstripping the opposition.
“Finally, in the three years since 2020/21, the Premier League has decided collectively to increase its wage bill by £500m. Again, that is a choice. There’s no sane economic reason for doing it. That’s what the clubs have decided to do.
“We have been prepared to compromise and what we are looking for is a 75-25 split of media revenues.
“We want to move away from the cliff edge, want to remove parachute payments and make our clubs solvent. The 75-25 split does that.”
But the Premier League insist they have made several proposals to the EFL and Parry has even come back with counter-offers.
Chief executive Richard Masters said last week the next shareholders’ meeting between the 20 clubs will be held over two days and the deal is already on the agenda for the second day.
Masters added: “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
Lucy Frazer, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is now watching to see whether football can sort itself out – without being ordered to by a new regulator.