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Cash-strapped clubs in the English Football League will understand Manchester United and Liverpool’s Big Picture proposals as a ‘drowning man clutching a life preserver’, it was stated today.
MP Damian Collins, who has been the main advocate in Parliament for a support package for EFL clubs, fears that the urgent need for short-term support will convince some clubs to back the plan, even though it has been widely condemned as ruinous for English football. .
The 72 English league clubs will discuss the proposals, which include controversial reforms such as reducing the number of Premier League teams to 18, giving the Big Six an effective veto over decisions and a larger share of broadcast revenue, in a meeting on October 15.
“There are a lot of clubs that think they will go bankrupt,” said Collins, former chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
‘There is no equal income or redemption. It’s like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver. They may think that if I can get money, I can move on.
“Many clubs in League One and Two will not think about playing in the Premier League, they will be thinking about surviving.
“Linking the reforms to make football more sustainable is right,” added Collins, who believes that some aspects of the plan, such as improving financial accountability within the EFL, make sense. ‘It should be a serious discussion. The takeover of some clubs cannot be acceptable ”.
The Big Picture scheme offers an immediate rescue of £ 250 million and an increase in the financial contribution of the highest category to the divisions below to around £ 700 million a year.
Sportsmail understands that the EFL is aware of seven clubs that are struggling to pay their salaries in October and without a cash increase they will fail this month or next.
Many more are believed to be on the brink, as the Covid-19 crisis cut off match day revenue while players and staff were still being paid and there has been no bailout deal so far, which has cost £ 250 million to cover the receipts of the door.
However, Big Picture’s proposals may end up delaying any bailouts of the EFL as they would have to be agreed to by league clubs and the deeply divided Premier League.
Collins cautioned that that could bankrupt some clubs, but it could also result in suspension from the EFL.
“For a lot of clubs right now they can go on a bit longer, but they end up bled to death,” Collins said. ‘For some, there is the prospect of burning money until there is nothing left, or stopping now.
‘Do we wait until we run out of money or do we stop?
“There could be a point where EFL clubs say we’re going to stop playing. We will have to make mothballs.
“These are the questions that are being asked right now.”
EFL President Rick Parry is strongly in favor of radical reforms, having worked on them with Joel Glazer and John Henry, owners of Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively.
He argues that the plans would provide a restart to bridge the financial gulf between the Premier League and the Championship in particular, as well as prevent League One and League Two clubs from going bankrupt in the Covid-19 crisis.
However, the government has strongly opposed them. The prime minister’s official spokesman addressed his opposition on Monday, stating that the plan “does not have the support of the Premier League and it is exactly these kinds of clandestine deals that undermine confidence in the governance of football.”
Collins said the government must now step in to find a solution quickly.
‘The question now is what is the alternative. He desperately needs the government with the Premier League to come up with an alternative plan, ”said the Conservative MP from Folkestone and Hythe.
“If you ask the big clubs for support, they will offer it on their own terms, not necessarily the right ones for the good of the game.”
‘The government needs to get involved. League One and Two is easier [to solve] because the money needed is less.
‘If this Big Picture plan is going nowhere, what happens next? I think we will see the first clubs fail publicly. If not this month, surely next month.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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