‘UEFA want Carabao cull’
RICK PARRY believes that a battle to save the Carabao Cup must start now – as UEFA prepare for a further expansion in European club competitions in 2024.
EFL chairman Parry says that English football’s second cup remains vital for the finances of many Football League clubs.
He said: “We need the Carabao Cup to keep thriving but we’ve got to be realistic – post 2024, it will come under pressure. “UEFA doesn’t like it. “We’re absolutely in the minority now in having two cup competitions. The move is to more and more European competitions, rather than domestic ones. We are alive to that, we’re not stupid about that.
“But the Carabao Cup is massively important to the EFL. It generates a very substantial proportion of our TV revenue, and it’s very much dependent upon the participation of the top teams.
“A million people a season watch the Carabao Cup in terms of spectators through the turnstiles too. It definitely has that relevance.
“It has to be part of the debate now about the future, otherwise 2024 will suddenly be upon us.
“We are appreciative of the support that, for instance, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have shown the competition.
“During my time at Liverpool it was the very first trophy we won, in
2001. Always nice to get an early trophy in the cabinet.
“It has a value if you look at the current England squad, and the players who were blooded in the Carabao Cup. And as I say full marks to people like
Pep for taking it seriously and wanting to win it.
“That is probably the biggest tribute to the Cup that can be paid.
“After 2024 there will be more and more pressure from Europe [to cancel the Carabao]. There’s a reformat of the Champions League, more international dates, there will be pressures – and something has to give.”
Parry (below) added: “It’s about the financial wealth of the pyramid.
“Our purpose at the EFL can be summed up as making clubs sustainable in the long term. In order to do that we have got have a redistribution of revenues.
“There is a chasm between the Premier League and the EFL.
“The bottom club in the Premier League will earn around £96million from TV revenues, the top club in the Championship will earn just £8m.”
The gap is getting bigger too. Parry said: “In 2001-02 the combined revenues of the PL clubs was £1.1billion. The EFL clubs had £466m so the PL clubs were making about two-and-ahalf-times more.
“By 2018-19, that gap had gone from £660m to £4bn – the PL made nearly FIVE times more than the EFL.
“I passionately believe in our pyramid. Brentford became the 50th club to join the Premier League. That movement up and down is important.”
The proposal for PL clubs to run ‘B sides’ in the EFL is a non-starter for Parry.
He said: “No chance. What relevance does a B team have to anybody’s community?”
Parry was talking to the Old Spice Boys podcast out on Apple and Spotify and on Twitter @theoldspiceboys.