Both Ian Wright and Gary Neville have admitted that they are worried about the seemingly growing gap between the Premier League and the Championship, with clubs struggling to bridge it when they earn promotion.
This season looks to be the second in a row when all three of last year’s promoted teams are relegated back down to the Championship. Southampton’s drop has already been confirmed, while Leicester City have to beat league leaders Liverpool on Sunday to hold off relegation for another week. Ipswich Town are also looking likely to drop this season.
It’s a situation that has raised debate. Sunderland will be hoping to earn promotion at the end of the season via the play-offs, they currently sit in fourth place in the Championship table.
But if that happens, the challenge ahead for Regis Le Bris and the Black Cats hierarchy would be a big one. That’s something that worries the pundits.
“We should be absolutely worried,” said Wright on The Overlap podcast. “There are 17 teams that are continually getting money because three teams are coming in, whether it’s Leeds, Sheffield United or Burnley or whoever, and then they go again.
“These 17 teams are continually getting stronger, the middle teams even. Look where Villa are now. Look at Brighton, look at Fulham having a go, Brentford, Bournemouth. All these teams are getting so much better than the three teams who are coming up.”
He added: “You look at Wolves this season. They have been so bad this season but they have had nothing to worry about.”
Neville said: “There’s a football question (about why teams are going straight back down) but there is also the financial disparity between what’s happening in the Championship and Premier League and we’ve talked about this for years.”
He added: “It’s got to the point now where clubs who come up – Nottingham Forest spent a hundred-odd million pounds – you have those wages when you sink back. There are some levels to soften the impact but the risks you have to take to stay in mean that if you go back down with a parachute there is still a risk of going under financially.
“You’re frightened then to go for the risk. What you’re seeing now is teams coming up and thinking, ‘There’s no point in going for it that much, we’ll try to outperform it and then at least we’re not going under financially.’
“It’s getting to a point where the gap is getting bigger.”
It’s a situation that the owner of Sunderland’s Championship rivals Coventry City, Doug King, has also addressed. With him also pointing to the parachute payments that will be received by the three relegated sides next season.
The payments are in place to stop relegation ruining clubs financially. The difference between playing in the Premier League and Championship is said to be worth at least £100 million.
Speaking at a supporters’ Forum last month, via CoventryLive, King addressed the financial side of trying to compete.
“The club is still losing £5-6million each season at an EBITDA level (EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It’s a financial metric used to evaluate a company’s operating profitability, essentially looking at how much money a company generates before considering non-operational expenses like interest, taxes, and depreciation/amortization. It’s often used as a proxy for cash flow from a company’s operations.)."
He continued: “Given the distortion to the Championship from the Parachute payment regime, to be competitive warrants, as it stands, a negative operating environment that is not sustainable unless owner funded.”
King added that he, “...hopes that the new football regulation bill will, firstly, increase appropriately funds from the Premier League through the pyramid and, secondly, address once and for all the hugely distorting sums paid to relegated clubs from the Premier League.”
