Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
REVOLUTION..
Gillingham chief backs plan for reform to stop a ’financial disaster’ in the EFL but warns changes must not go too far
GILLINGHAM chairman Paul Scally has given his support to Project Big Picture – but warned that football must not sell its soul.
Scally says EFL chairman Rick Parry (right) has been forced into negotiations for a secret deal with Liverpool and Manchester United to stop EFL clubs going bust.
He also claims details were leaked to put a bomb under the proposals before they were ready.
The outspoken League One chief insists at least 10 Premier League clubs are in favour and says it is the most viable method to avoid the financial disaster facing the EFL.
Scally said: “This is the most attractive solution for the EFL and, believe me, Rick has worked so hard at looking at every option. He’s not the one who has done nothing for the EFL for the past six months.
“It’s better than a loan from the Bank of England repayable over 10 years or from an American hedge fund, but at a higher interest rate, or selling a percentage of the League t o a ma rke t i n g company. Covid will end at some stage, hopefully soon, and football will still be in a mess. Rick is trying to address not just the short-term problem, but the long-term issues.
“He’s been hijacked, wasn’t ready to go public. The clubs weren’t ready to go public.
“This has been leaked way before it was supposed to come out.
The leak is quite scandalous, the detail is such that only so ma ny p e o p l e would know.”
Scally also insists it is not just Liverpool and Manchester
United who are on board and it also goes beyond
Manchester City,
Arsenal, Chelsea Tottenham.
“Two have been happy to put their heads above the parapet, they’re happy to push for reform and the other four haven’t wanted to do the same,” said Scally. “But the reality is it’s probably more like 10 who want a restructure of football.
“It’s not just two. The Big Six want change – but we’ve all got self-interest. You could say and that about the Big Six, but they are the most powerful and therefore they should have a say in their destiny.
“Provided i t d o e s n’ t compromise f ootball , the Premier League and the rest of the football pyramid, they should get a bigger say.
“We must not sell our souls here, but the concept of working in a restructured Football League is the most attractive.”
Scally gets on well with Parry, but is not afraid to admit there are elements of the plan he
does not like.
The common argument against is that there would never be another Leicester City, going up from League One to becoming Premier League champions within seven years
“That’s a fair point,” said Scally. “But I don’t think this is a done deal. I don’t like losing the League Cup.
“Of course, I don’t want to see a Premier League where the top six get such a bigger share than the bottom clubs. We won’t sell our souls for the future of football, no matter how desperate we get.”
Scally insists the EFL – then the Football League – made their greatest-ever mistake in 1995 when they had the chance to take a percentage of Premier League revenue, when Parry was chief executive, but opted instead to take a TV deal.
“Not taking the deal on the table at the time, that will go down as the biggest error of judgement i n the history of football by the board of directors in the Football
League,” said
Scally.
“We h a d th ree options.
One was a
Sky deal, an ITV deal and
Rick Parry ’s deal from the Premier League. We were minded to go with the Premier League deal, we asked for some time to think about it only to discover they’d signed another deal two weeks later.
“We were livid, the board were forced to resign and clubs have been paying the price ever since.”