Prem say they WILL bail out EFL but warn: NO promotion to top flight if season is shut down.. and cap player wages
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are ready to bail out the crisis-hit EFL – but will exact a heavy price.
The country’s leading clubs want guarantees over key issues, including no relegation if the season is curtailed, and are also pushing for a strict salary cap in the
Championship. That comes on top of demanding support on post-Brexit home-grown quotas and other strategic alignments over TV deals and commercial contracts.
The Premier League are discussing a low interest loan rather than a payment and Mirror Sport has been told a reported £200million figure is “over the top”.
That could throw doubt on whether an agreement can be reached for the top-flight fat cats to come to the rescue of lower tier clubs facing financial ruin after the Government delayed the return of fans because of coronavirus.
Any bail out would have to be voted on by Premier League clubs and although not all are demanding conditions be attached, influential voices are insisting on the guarantees.
A source at a Championship club said it was effectively Premier League teams trying to turn the top flight into a “closed shop” with the threat of relegation removed, while a wage cap would make it harder for clubs to break into the elite.
An injection of public money has been ruled out and Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “Where it can we will expect the top tiers of professional sport to look at ways it can support itself, with the Government focusing on those most in need.”