12 March 2024 , 19:37
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Liverpool and Arsenal were among ten Premier League sides who voted against a financial deal to help the EFL.
Top-flight outfits met on Monday to vote on a potential deal that could aid the other 72 clubs in the Football League. However the vote didn't even take place after half the league made it clear it wasn't worth discussing with talk mounting as they consider doing battle with the Government.
A regulator is imminent and, should they try and force the clubs to pay, they are ready to go to court. They believe the legal fees would be far less than the extra £836m over five years they would have to cough up.
The other eight clubs to oppose the prospect of handing more money to the EFL were Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Aston Villa, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. The prospect of scrapping the deal altogether was raised in a meeting involving the clubs.
The Daily Mail has reported that the idea of one club being asked to give a rival financial help, which could them be used to help them earn promotion at the expense of a team who has funded them, as ‘unpalatable’ and ‘unworkable’.
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The Football Governance Bill - which is expected to be introduced next month - would have the authority to monitor and enforce clubs to be compliant with financial regulations. It would then take a further several months, potentially beyond a General Election, to become law.
The Premier League had put forward a proposal to pay £836m over five years - which would be in addition to the existing £110m in solidarity payments and £40m a year youth development funding.
Gary Neville has been left fuming by the decision taken by Premier League clubs (Mike Egerton/PA Wire)Gary Neville, who co-owns League Two outfit Salford City, has criticised the top-flight outfits who stood against supporting the Football League. He said: “I am more interested in the vote they didn’t have, which was to support the rest of the Football League which they keep bumping down the road and it’s an absolute disgrace. It is about the welfare of the game and the sustainability of the whole league.
“The Premier League at this moment in time are negligent in their dismissive nature, just pushing it down the road, thinking ‘maybe a regulator will sort it, maybe we’ll sort it’ and not doing anything. That’s not good governance, it just demonstrates to me that they are not looking after the whole game like they should be.
“It angers me every time I see they have a Premier League meeting and seem to look after themselves but not look after the rest of football.”
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