BCFC and PRESTON ARE BIG CLUBS but we are minnows in our current state- Championship parachute payments: Why the early table is cause for concern SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 BY ACALLOW1402 LEAVE A COMMENT After the completion of this weekend’s fixtures, the Championship relegation zone made depressing reading for the three clubs promoted from League One last season. Bristol City, Preston North End and Milton Keynes Dons currently occupy the bottom three places after nine games, which should worry everybody who cherishes English football’s unique pyramid structure. #484512332 / gettyimages.com Very few pre-season previews expected City and Preston to flirt with the bottom three, though most of these previews also had MK down as nailed-on strugglers. Unexpected twists are part of what makes following football so enduring a pastime. However, it is precisely this capacity for the unexpected that looks under threat when you examine the Championship table as it stands. The most alarming thing about this is that City and Preston are big clubs who have previously sustained Championship football for long periods and come close to being promoted to the Premier League – losing play off finals in 2001 and 2005 (Preston) and 2008 (Bristol City). If clubs such as these two are struggling after promotion, a serious question needs to be asked if the ability of promoted clubs to dream of prospering in the Championship are now seriously hampered due to the inflated sums of money which circulate in England’s second tier. Fourteen Championship clubs are either currently receiving, or have previously benefitted from, parachute payments after relegation from the Premier League. The current payments being received by the recently relegated – Burnley, Hull and QPR are an estimated £64 million over the next four years if not promoted. These payments may be necessary in order to enable clubs to fulfil contractual obligations made to players when chasing bottomless pots of gold. However, it is hard to see that they do anything other than encourage clubs to continue spending binges in pursuit of promotion, particularly among those clubs not currently in receipt of them eager to keep up with the rest. The heavy spending of both Derby and Middlesbrough, clubs who have had recent near misses on promotion, this summer are two examples of this. Of the last 12 clubs to be relegated from the Championship, three have been relegated after only one season (Doncaster, Yeovil and Peterborough) and the rest comprise either clubs who have flown too close to the sun (Portsmouth, Coventry, Wolves, Wigan, Blackpool and Bristol City) or smaller clubs ordinarily expected to struggle in the division (the first time droppers plus Millwall and Barnsley). The common factor is clear – these are generally clubs who have never had the parachute payments, or clubs who have spent them on covering previous liabilities. It is not as if the current bottom three are non-competitive – the Robins have tried to take risks by injecting the biggest dose of steroids into the auction for Andre Gray’s services before he decided to join Burnley. They also made a £6m bid for Crystal Palace’s Dwight Gayle, who was unwilling to move west. Preston and MK have been more frugal, but both brought in nine players each prior to the closing of the transfer window. The problem for them is, the Championship is now arguably as distorted by obscene sums of money as the top flight, and sensible club husbandry is now a lesser-spotted strategy in what is now a mad scramble to reach the Premier League. An important part of the media’s language around the Championship’s appeal is the word ‘unpredictable’. With the yawning wealth gap that now exists between the haves and have-nots in the Championship, ultimate outcomes in the division are anything but unpredictable. If you don’t spend ludicrous sums, you’ve probably had it. If you do spend ludicrous sums, you may enjoy short-term success, but there is a chance something nasty could be waiting for you a few years down the track. Do you agree that parachute payments have made the Championship more uncompetitive? Would you cap them? Do you think that any of the three promoted clubs can survive relegation?
As has been noted elsewhere. Even as Champions from last year, if you go into a strong and competitive Championship with what is essentially still a L1 team, then you are going to struggle big time. If only those in power could see the bleeding obvious !
I agree with the great majority of what you say Red Robin. Unfortunately, I do not see any way that things will change because the existing Premier and their ex colleagues who now reside in the Championship, are definitely not interested in changing the system to help the many. They are simply looking after number one, themselves, and hoping or even expecting a stay, however brief, in the Prem to keep the money flowing in. Thus, the only way that I can see us joining the top thirty to forty elite is for whoever owns City, whether that is SL now or another in the future to dig very deep, with lots of creative accounting. Football ownership or majority shareholding has never been cheap or for the faint hearted. I am not asking or telling SL to plough in more millions but as he is the current owner, it would seem very strange if he does not wake up to the fact that, without being gloomy, there is a real possibility that we go back to League One (THIRD TIER) for it's opening ceremony next August.
I have said for many years that Bristol City is a club stuck in the middle ages, when you consider the time warp we sit in, and they haven't listened to what's happening right in front or their noses. We just don't seem to have the nous required to get us to the land of milk and honey, or at least some parachute payments to help us on our way, and I think we seriously missed the boat after our playoff final at Wembley to create a lasting and sustainable attempt at higher level of football. We can't change the past and now I think the future we want is fast disappearing over the horizon never to be seen again. Dreaming is a wonderful thing but the writing is on the wall for clubs like ours unless we get some rule changes, or a change of heart by the supposed top clubs, to help the game survive at lower league levels. It won't happen so you pay your money and take your choice, but for me I would like to wake up one day and find the Premiership has vanished in a puff of smoke and we can return to normalcy, whatever that may be. Dream on Mike.
Think most knew of the dozen or so receiving parachute payments including our Board. Although disappointed I half understand the actions/non actions of the Board. It's a very fine line we're treading with a 3 sided stadium and the revenue it brings. Hold on guys, keep the faith and keep everything crossed this season.
What about payments of money to help clubs settle in the next division when promoted ie 5million first year, 2 million second year to help a club stabilise in the division above?
PEDANT/RANT MODE: ON Not getting at you RR, but all I see at work is a never ending series of emails referring to "the below" What is "the below"...??!!! - certainly not English, for sure. It appears that the English language is going down the crapper at an ever increasing rate of knots, what with teenagers being unable to complete a sentence without the use of the word "like" (in the wrong context) and lately, all I hear around me is people starting every sentence with the completely redundant word "so". PEDANT/RANT MODE: OFF Thank you for listening....
Come May I believe we'll still be a Championship club, I pray to god we honestly win on Saturday though
I have said on previous posts that the parachute money and what's given to all League clubs needs to be looked at - it's not an even playing field
Prem: the loss of the English language is rampant and over here my granddaughters use the word "lookit" when the simple word "look" is what they mean. Drives me crazy - or crazier depending on your point of view. What's going to happen in 10-20 years when words of more than 5 letters will probably disappear all together and everyone will be called Bob to make things easier.
it is a quoted article brought to our attention, and does basically cover the present day story of championship folk
Mike, if you want to see exactly where we are headed, I can recommend a film which goes by the name of Idiocracy. Sums it up perfectly....
