Money men dread £80m cost of drop

ANY slip-up today could blow an £80million hole in the finances of whichever clubs are unlucky enough to fall through the Premier League trapdoor. Norwich have already been relegated – the Canaries plunging back to the Championship after a single season in the top flight.

They will be joined by two of Watford, Bournemouth and Aston Villa by the time the whistle blows on the longest season in English football history this afternoon. And the money men will be shifting nervously in their seats as the action unfolds – wondering how to cushion the financial blow of relegation.

“Generally, a season of football in the Premier League is worth £120m, when you take into account TV revenues, sponsorship, gate receipts and prize money,” says Rob Wilson, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University.

“Whoever goes down will receive a firstyear parachute payment of £40m, but you’re still looking at 2020/21 earnings going down by £80m.

“Whichever club you are, that’s a massive sum of money, particularly when you’re a club like Aston Villa, who spent heavily to get back into the Premier League in the first place.”

The difference between life in the Premier League and the Championship from a financial perspective is vast, with the second tier increasingly precarious.

A recent report by Deloitte suggested that Championship clubs were spending 107 per cent of their revenues on wages in 2018/19. And that was before the Covid-19 crisis which has left the existence of some hanging by a thread.

Their struggles illustrate just how difficult life is away from the Premier League.

Aston Villa, Watford and Bournemouth have been warned.