Rick Parry is determined the English Football League will not accept “crumbs” from the Premier League table when discussions over financial redistribution finally take place.
EFL chairman Parry has been awaiting meaningful dialogue with the top flight over a new funding package since an independent fan-led review into football governance was published last year.
Among the recommendations of the review was that the Premier League, which currently offers parachute and ‘solidarity’ payments to EFL clubs, should provide more financial support for the game’s pyramid.
Parry is frustrated that talks have not yet begun and believes it may take external intervention to get meaningful discussions under way.
Another proposal from the review was for an independent regulator for the game to be set up but, due to the political situation in the country, there has been little progress with regards to Government implementation of the recommendations.
“They (discussions) haven’t started yet,” said Parry, speaking at a ‘Club and Community’ panel event hosted by the think tank Onward. “The Premier League say it’s close but it’s been close for a long time.
“Football has had 30 years to progress this. The likelihood of it happening without independent intervention – it’s not going to happen voluntarily. It just isn’t.
“We had a dry run during the pandemic when they made an inadequate offer and we were told to accept it. We didn’t have a great deal of choice.
“This is why, without intervention, the idea that we are just told to go and negotiate is a little naive. We’re sceptical but we’re also brave, and the days of us just accepting the crumbs from the Premier League’s table are gone.
“Because (the review offers a) once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity) we have to be brave and stand firm and I think we will.”
Parry highlighted the huge disparity between Premier League and EFL income. He pointed out that in 2018-19, the last full season before the pandemic, Premier League bottom club Huddersfield earned £96m while Championship winners Norwich collected £8m.
“That’s unbridgeable,” Parry said. “It was brilliant for Huddersfield to have two years in the Premier League but it would take many years in the Championship to earn the money they got in two years in the Premier League. That is the problem.
“We have a model for change which has been mis-described as us insisting on getting 25 per cent of the money.
“Our model is basically to halve the gap between the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship, so instead of being £88m (difference) it’s £44m. We abolish parachute payments to make the Championship competitive.
“The chances of getting this voted through the Premier League are approximately nil, so it needs independent intervention. Regulation – we’re very keen on.”
