Premier League bail out for EFL

According to tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph, they’ve agreed a 250 million bail out to EFL subject to some post Brexit conditions on overseas players.

Some will say about time, but it’s got to be good news.

Somehow I doubt that will be shared out as £3,472,222.22 each.

Quoted from Barrattstander

Somehow I doubt that will be shared out as £3,472,222.22 each.

Yeah probably something like this

Champ - 60%
LG1 - 30%
LG2 - 10%

Premier League clubs are resigned to having to bail out the English Football League - but with strings attached.

Members of the world’s richest league are expected to impose strict conditions on a support package worth up to £250 million to their lower-league counterparts.

They are prepared to make a take-it-or-leave-it offer after the Government made clear it would not be rescuing the professional game from collapse following the coronavirus crisis.

Premier League clubs had been holding off agreeing to underwrite losses of up to £22m a month being posted by EFL sides until after the planned return of crowds to the game a week today, in the hope both competitions could start generating some ticket revenue.

But Boris Johnson destroyed those plans on Tuesday by announcing a new wave of lockdown restrictions that could force professional and semi-professional football behind closed doors for another six months.

The Prime Minister and his cabinet are determined to hold the Premier League to one of the conditions of the competition resuming this summer in Project Restart after football was suspended in March, which was its clubs supporting the wider football family.

Those clubs, who have already made some contribution to that effect despite losing millions of pounds a week themselves, are now reluctantly ready to go further by bailing out the lower leagues.

However, any rescue package is likely to be limited to underwriting lost gate receipts, with EFL clubs needing to provide clear evidence to that effect.

Premier League clubs have no intention of bailing out teams already at risk of going bust before the pandemic due to poor ownership or other self-inflicted issues.

The league also wants the EFL to agree to support some of its own strategic objectives in exchange for the cash, including post-Brexit quotas on overseas players and on its yet-to-be-agreed curtailment rules.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has been resisting these latter conditions during negotiations over a rescue package but may be forced to accept them if he wants the cash, with Government sources telling The Daily Telegraph it has no intention of dictating what terms are applied to any bailout.

The EFL has been exploring taking out a commercial loan but clubs have told The Telegraph that borrowing money would simply delay their demise.

Parry has already said teams could go bust by Christmas and he reiterated the urgency of a bailout on Wednesday in a statement questioning the Government’s decision to scrap the return of fans.

“Of course we recognise that the UK is facing a significant public health crisis and that sport has to play its part in helping the Government manage the spread of the virus at this difficult time,” he said.

“This is why over many months we have helped the Government devise, refine and pilot stringent stadium protocols designed to keep supporters safe. Staging professional football matches is one of the most heavily regulated areas of crowd management and any supporters attending EFL fixtures, in vastly reduced numbers, would have been required to adhere to social distancing and the rule of six.

“Therefore we are deeply frustrated that we will not be able to continue this work and, in doing so, gather the evidence to show that crowds can return safely to football and become an important financial lifeline for our clubs. Therefore, as a matter of urgency we now need to understand what the Government’s roadmap is for getting supporters back into stadiums as soon as it is deemed safe to do so.

“With extended measures introduced, it is imperative that the financial issues facing our clubs are addressed quickly. EFL clubs lost £50m last season as a result of playing matches behind closed doors or curtailing the season and stand to lose a further £200m in 2020/21 should we be required to play the whole season without supporters in grounds.

"I am encouraged that the Government has recognised the need for urgent financial assistance for sport and discussions will continue with DCMS and the Premier League.”

Problem for me being that when you go cap in hand to the Squire, there's always a price to pay...

Quoted from ginnywings

Problem for me being that when you go cap in hand to the Squire, there's always a price to pay...

B Teams....................

Quoted from ginnywings

Problem for me being that when you go cap in hand to the Squire, there's always a price to pay...

Which should worry us all in my opinion. Under normal circumstances Football is always evolving of course, always has done always will. God knows what some of our predecessors would think of how the game is these days for all of the hyperbole that comes with the PL.

But with the big clubs acting like they have "always been at the top" these days I fear for the future of the pyramid structure as we currently know it. Especially if they now are collectively "owed one" by the FL.  

Going cap in hand to the premier league will come at a cost that goes beyond borrowing a few quid.

This will only serve to push the agenda of B teams further among other things me thinks. It’s also naive of lower league clubs to assume, simply because there’s cash at the top that they should bail us out.

I'm still not convinced the Premier League, or its members, are that bothered about the B Team agenda.  That was more Shaun Harvey and Greg Dyke trying to impress them wasn't it?  Perhaps a little bit more deflecting from their failings on the behalf of Dyke and the FA.

A B Team format does relatively little for the Premier League clubs other than giving them fixtures to use their Under 23's.  Something I'm sure they can already do as part of the Premier League 2 and/or loans which are already very successful.  With the shortened season and looming winter breaks, the fixture congestion is a worry for a lot of clubs so I don't see them wanting extra games.

The cost of accepting the bail out will most likely be falling in line when it comes to voting against foreign player restrictions.  Personally, I couldn't care less about this.  If that's what the Premier League, which is already so far devoid of any relationship with the common football fan, want to do...so be it.

Long term it may be to the detriment of the national side, but if push comes to shove I'd take a poor England side if it meant having a Football League pyramid.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I'm still not convinced the Premier League, or its members, are that bothered about the B Team agenda.  That was more Shaun Harvey and Greg Dyke trying to impress them wasn't it?  Perhaps a little bit more deflecting from their failings on the behalf of Dyke and the FA.

A B Team format does relatively little for the Premier League clubs other than giving them fixtures to use their Under 23's.  Something I'm sure they can already do as part of the Premier League 2 and/or loans which are already very successful.  With the shortened season and looming winter breaks, the fixture congestion is a worry for a lot of clubs so I don't see them wanting extra games.

The cost of accepting the bail out will most likely be falling in line when it comes to voting against foreign player restrictions.  Personally, I couldn't care less about this.  If that's what the Premier League, which is already so far devoid of any relationship with the common football fan, want to do...so be it.

Long term it may be to the detriment of the national side, but if push comes to shove I'd take a poor England side if it meant having a Football League pyramid.

It's not about extra games, it's about extra teams. Do you want to be playing against Man Utd B in League 2? There is a real concern that teams may go to the wall; Macclesfield already have, and who will fill those spaces?