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Millwall chief executive Steve Kavanagh has described it as an “absolute disgrace” that Premier League clubs have only come to the negotiating table over Tracey Crouch’s Fan Led Review of Governance.
Today marks one year since the publication of the Crouch report.
One of the review’s key recommendations was for a fairer financial redistribution of the wealth enjoyed by England’s top clubs.
The government said in April it would establish an independent regulator in football after approving proposals by Crouch, who was previously sports minister.
In 1993 the turnover of the Premier League was £45 million with the EFL at £34 million. But since then the turnover of the former has grown 68 times with the latter growing only by five times – a major disparity.
Asked about the current state of play with the Fan Led Review, Kavanagh told the South London Press: “To be sitting here with no tangible progress is extremely disappointing and shows a level of arrogance, really, which shows why the Fan Led Review it was so so. important in the first place.
“We were treated as if we were not important in the world – that the football pyramid does not matter. It is important. It is critically important and it is the building block on which the Premier League is built.
“We need to get a tangible progression from the politicians and the Premier League to advance this debate. In the year that has gone the world has changed and the risk towards the clubs with the cost of living and everything that is right increased, it makes it more and more likely that the clubs have become increasingly unsustainable.
“This is so important. We can’t risk another Bury and have another potential Derby – yes, they were saved, but it was close. We shouldn’t risk the future of the community’s assets, which are all club, because we can’t get this.
The EFL’s proposed financial model is for a 75/25 split between the Premier League and themselves. That would cut the reliance on owner funding in League One and League Two, as well as halve the gap between the top two tiers of the domestic game.
“There is a clear model and clear documentation from the EFL about how we achieve this,” Kavanagh said. “We need progress and it needs to be urgent now.
“A year has passed and it would be easy for more time to escape and it is too important for the national sport for that to happen.
“Politically there has been a bit of turmoil – how many Prime Ministers have we had in the last year? Three? I attended a session in the House of Commons with Rick Parry [EFL chairman] and Tracey Crouch about six weeks ago. And in this a certain number of deputies attended in all parties and all recognized that this Fan Led Review had support in the Commons.
“It’s not progressing, probably, because the Government, right, had its eyes elsewhere. It’s frustrating and disappointing, but the government of this country is more important than football. Now we’re out the other side of it , I hope.
“What the Government and the Fan Led Review made clear was that they wanted football to solve the redistribution themselves and, if they didn’t, they would really intervene. Well, the Premier League has just come to the table and I believe there is. These are just conversations taking place today and over the next few days. It is an absolute disgrace and shows why an independent regulator is needed. Unless they are forced to do something, the Premier League will ignore us – as they did for a year. This silence was deafening.”
The turnover of the Premier League is £2 billion more than the Spanish League, the next most lucrative league.
“The gap between the Premier League and the Championship is where the real problem starts,” said Kavanagh, who was appointed to the EFL board in the summer. “We’re competing against teams in the Championship who have such a massive financial advantage with parachute payments meaning it’s a closed door.
“The more money you have for a period of time will show that you will be more successful than anyone else. What you end up with is that the Premier League is a closed shop. It means getting into the Premier League is so difficult that what leads is unsustainable behavior of the owners, because they start to pursue and put substantial funds to try to compete with the parachute teams – they cannot compete on the field without doing that.. It leads to even more unsustainable behavior from the owners who then start to say : “We can do this, we can reverse the trend”. You put the assets of the community at risk. Once one club does, then everyone starts doing it, chasing the same position. The financial hole in the Championship is so big because of the parachute money coming in – risk our clubs every day of the week. Clubs live on the edge – permanently.
“If we don’t have John Berylson, then we wouldn’t be able to compete in the Championship – that simple. Also, you have to look at the owners and say: “How long can they continue to support the financial input?” We are lucky that John is here 17 years. When you look at other clubs that have foreign owners who come in, they have a window of two or three years to try to get there and then they are done. That’s when the problem begins. The clubs are left with legacy problems massive and unsustainable salaries. This is when the real risk comes to these clubs. It all comes back to the parachute payments, because they distort the competition in the Championship by such a substantial amount that it really creates unsustainable and dangerous behavior in the club in the Championship.
“League One and League Two there are clear problems to be examined, but they are not to the magnitude created by the distance between the Premier League and the Championship. It needs to be the focus of what needs to be looked at.”
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