13 March 2024 , 12:10
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On Monday afternoon owners and leading executives from all 20 Premier League clubs gathered in a central London hotel to discuss, among other things, the government-backed solidarity deal for EFL clubs.
And at the end of more than two hours there was such division in the room that the suits could not even reach a vote. Approximately half of the clubs - including Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool - made it clear that they were not in favour of sending a funding package of £900m down the pyramid.
All major Premier League decisions require 14 clubs to vote in favour and such was the push-back against the so-called New Deal it was decided to scrap having a ballot. The non-decision has been met with severe backlash from Football League clubs and government officials. And the standoff carries potentially far-reaching consequences.
Top flight sides currently filter about £340m in solidarity payments down the pyramid but the New Deal stems from the government’s plan to introduce an independent football regulator. A central part of the regulator’s remit is to ensure that a sufficient amount of money is distributed to clubs lower down the chain.
However, Premier League clubs are insistent that they do not require external regulation and the refusal to agree a new EFL funding package has been framed as them flexing their muscles or sending a message to the government that they will be putting up a fight.
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Since Tracey Crouch’s report into football governance, which was commissioned following the bungling attempt to launch a European Super League in 2021, there has been a feeling that Premier League clubs will dig in against proposals for an independent body.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer has previously said that the regulator, the creation of which has already been delayed on several occasions, will intervene if the New Deal is not agreed. But Monday’s impasse is equally a major setback for the Premier League’s board and chief executive Richard Masters because they have, so far, failed to convince their clubs.
The Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability regulations, which have seen Everton deducted six points and Nottingham Forest awaiting the conclusion of their case, are intrinsically linked too. Clubs have been demanding that a new cost control method is introduced to replace the three-year £105m loss cycle - and until they get their way there is no prospect of sufficient backing for the New Deal.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer has been meeting with the Premier League and EFL to broker a deal.Some Premier League club executives have also argued that because they are already loss-making businesses they should not be required to provide funding for smaller clubs - and the added cost of a New Deal would make it even harder for them to remain within the PSR rules.
The Premier League is expected to adopt a system similar to UEFA’s financial controls in which teams are capped at spending a certain proportion of their revenue on transfers and wages - although details must still be ironed out.
EFL chairman Rick Parry, who will oversee a meeting of their 72 clubs on Thursday, has repeatedly stressed that several lower league clubs are at risk of liquidation without a new redistribution model.
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