POWER PLAY

Championship big-hitters flexing their muscles as television rumpus continues

THE bitter TV rights war that has erupted between the EFL and a host of Championship clubs is a power play by the division’s biggest hitters.

That is the view of two prominent EFL chairmen who believe the disputed £595m deal with Sky is merely a staging post in a bigger battle.

“This is about a group of wealthy Championship chairmen who want to get their own way and prove they have more clout than the board,” said one.

THE bitter TV rights war that has erupted between the EFL and a host of Championship clubs is a power play by the division’s biggest hitters.

That is the view of two prominent EFL chairmen who believe that the disputed £595m deal with Sky is merely a staging post in a bigger battle.

Nineteen second-tier clubs had stated their opposition to the five-year deal and urged the EFL to renegotiate ahead of last Monday’s 4pm deadline. Objections ranged from concerns over the value and length of the contract to the availability of all midweek games on the red button.

The EFL board – led by chief executive Shaun Harvey – signed the deal anyway and it was reported on Friday that seven clubs – led by Leeds, Aston Villa and Derby – have now appointed lawyers to challenge its legality.

According to the Times, they believe that the board’s failure to share details of the final contract before it was signed and its refusal to show clubs legal advice – stating that Sky would sue if they did not go ahead with the deal – offer sufficient grounds for the contract to be scrapped.

Publicly, the antagonists are arguing that the EFL undervalued the Championship and a better deal should be sought, but the chairman of a League One club says the real motive is to put the EFL in their place.

Clout

“I think this is about power-broking,” he said. “I think this is about a group of wealthy, powerful Championship chairmen who want to get their own way and prove that they have more clout than the board - which they can afford to do because they’ve got tremendous wealth.

“One thing I’ve learned in this game is that certain individuals run their businesses with complete ruthlessness. There’s an egotism to it. They’re determined to prove their strength and that’s why they’ve taken this stance.

“How much reality there is to the argument, how far they can actually take this and what the conclusion will be – that’s all to be seen. But if this was really about getting the best TV deal, any conclusion would have to be linked to an alternative offer and where is it? Nobody has seen it.”

One Championship chairman said the dispute represented a “howl of frustration” over the ever-increasing gulf between the Championship and the Premier League, where the last TV deal was worth £5.14bn.

“Clubs like Derby, Aston Villa, Leeds – they’re big clubs who feel they deserve to be in the Premier League,” he said. “But because they’ve been out of it so long, they’re unable to compete with all these teams coming down with £40m in parachute payments. The only way they can get promoted is to break the rules or find a new owner. It’s demoralising. It’s frustrating. I’ve got a lot of sympathy for them.

“This TV deal – it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Because even if we got an extra three, four, five million quid, would it make a difference? No.

“The real problem is parachute payments and the enormous gap they create. They were set up to sustain clubs coming down to the Championship who had players on two or three-year contracts.

“But, over time, those payments have got bigger and bigger. And instead of covering contracts, the money is being spent on transfer fees of £12m or £15m for one player. People try to compete and what do you have? The most indebted division in Europe. It’s the most unrest and discontent I’ve known in my time and it’s all come to a head around this issue.

“Everybody is envious of the Premier League. They’ve been led, marketed. Richard Scudamore has done a marvellous job. And I think what a lot of clubs are saying is ‘Where is the Richard Scudamore of the Football League? That’s the crux of it.”

The EFL have not commented on the legal action, with all 24 Championship clubs set to meet on Tuesday to discuss their next move.