EFL HANDED BOOST IN QUEST TO NEGOTIATE CASH PACKAGE
STOKE City will be on alert about major impending changes to the EFL’S Financial Fair Play rules following further talks among Premier League clubs.
The ‘New Deal for Football’, which would see top-flight clubs putting about £170m more each year into the EFL and a big change to the parachute payment model, is said to have been fiercely debated at Monday’s meeting of Premier League shareholders.
The Times reports that six clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham - failed with a move to stop the Premier League starting talks with the EFL about the plan.
It is claimed that they do not want their income playing in European competition to be taken into account in any funding equation.
The EFL can now set about negotiating the package - and bringing in changes that would have a huge knock-on effect on Stoke, from potentially scrapping FA Cup replays and letting certain clubs decide whether or not to enter the Carabao Cup or field under-21s sides.
But most pertinent will be the FFP rules which have dogged Stoke since relegation in 2018.
Clubs in the Championship are permitted to make losses of up to £39m over a threeyear period, with guaranteed income of only about £8m.
That is in contrast to teams even at the bottom of the top division, who are guaranteed at least £100m every season, and can lose up to £105m every three years.
Stoke’s argument against the current structure has centred on the gulf between the two levels, making it almost impossible to budget for the dozens of clubs whose natural historic habitat is somewhere between mid-table in those divisions.
New FFP rules from Uefa will limit clubs to spending up to 70 per cent of their total revenue on players’ wages and transfer fees. Now Sky Sports suggests that Premier League clubs will allow a higher percentage, “although the actual figure remains confidential at this stage”.
It added: “It is understood Premier League clubs were adamant the percentage limit had to be higher for English clubs to allow for ‘aspirational spending’ as clubs try to compete with the ‘big six’.”
The increased funding heading to the EFL will be split by merit so teams finishing higher up the table will pocket more cash, as currently happens in the Premier League.
A vital line for Stoke reads that “Premier League clubs will dictate that EFL clubs must abide by the same financial rules and spending limits as the top-division sides.”
The level of parachute payments is set for further debate while an ‘infrastructure fund’ will help clubs in League One and League Two improve facilities.
The work permit system will be discussed with the Government as clubs are frustrated with the difficulty of recruiting young players from overseas post-brexit.
GOOD NEWS: Stoke City joint-chairman John Coates, pictured, has previously stressed the importance of bringing in changes to the current Financial Fair Play rules.