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The disgraceful EFL

MackworthRamIsGod

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Ambitious

Ambitious

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I was walking the dog earlier and I really started to think about the repercussions on the current situation on Football League clubs. I think, for the most part, we are all agreed that football will look very different in his country following on the Covid-19 pandemic. Clubs, already walking a financial tightrope, will be in turmoil. I imagine the majority of owners/investors in League One & League Two clubs will have businesses that won't be doing too well at present which will ultimately hinder their ability to help clubs making excessive losses. 

We see/hear/read every single day that the wages in the Premier League are outrageous and unsustainable. It's absolutely, categorically incorrect. The investment in the top level is absolutely there. Tottenham Hotspur spend 39% of their income on player wages announced in a recent report. We're on 168% in the Championship. We have a wage budget of £46.8m and they have a wage budget of £148m. In order to get to the same turnover/wage, as us then they would need to spend roughly £531m which would be equivalent of paying each player in a squad of 30 a whopping £340k a week! 

The problem is that the Premier League is on course to grow at an exponential rate over the course of the next decade. It's the most watched competition in world sport, with a more 'NFL-like' approach to their commercial team then they will at least triple their turnover. The Football League on other hand is just not an attractive proposition, so can only continue to live on Premier League handouts as that grows and the Football League stagnates. 

The follow on effect is huge:

1) Football League clubs will struggle to attract new supporters. It simply isn't exciting or fun having your best players leave every summer. On top of that, you've also got he constant talk about the money side on the game that really tarnishes the entertainment aspect. I have no doubt people will continue to support their local team, but half empty grounds are already the norm - I expect it to get worse. The HIGHEST average attendance to capacity in league two is 66.7% - Northampton Town with an average attendance of 5,101 in their 7,653 capacity stadium. The worst is Carlisle with an average attendance of 4,119 in their 17,949 capacity stadium. 17 out of the 24 teams are playing at below half capacity. In League One, it's not as bad with 9 out of the 24 teams playing at or below half capacity - only three play at or above 70% capacity. In the Championship, half the league play at or above 70% capacity. I really shouldn't have to post it, but every single Premier League club is playing above 90% capacity with Southampton at 91.6% being the lowest in the league. 

2) Footballers at all levels are naturally governed by the very top level. If you look at it this way: if you're a good Championship footballer then you're seen as a player that could potentially be a squad player in the Premier League. At the moment, a good Championship player can look to earn £15k a week without breaking their club's bank. A squad player in the Premier League would be expected to be picking up £40-50k a week. It means that footballers are looking to get paid - Chelsea have academy players that are on wages too high for Championship clubs. Derby have Sibley, Bird, Bogle...etc. They're all going to want to get paid their worth. The Football League has made it impossible for us to give them their worth without breaking the rules. Premier League clubs know that signing players from Football League clubs is just like shooting fish in a barrel. It would be much simpler if the Premier League was a closed league, because at the moment you have a grey area where Premier League clubs are being relegated, like Stoke, with players on 50-60k a week and other Championship clubs are having to meet players 'market value'. All EFL clubs have a difficult time keeping players, especially when the money is required to survive. Championship clubs as a whole made a £150m net profit on player transfers this past season, 4 years ago (14/15) it was only £20m. Yet, despite this, it doesn't seem like the health of the clubs in question has got any better. 

In fact, you can judge it for yourself: 

image.thumb.png.2b5f0ca32b8955ec0676608e7e11b716.png

 

3) This is the irony of it all - post Covid-19 clubs throughout the EFL are going to need investment! Unfortunately, the current FFP restrictions by their very definition will turn off investors who want to make money. If the EFL could market their product better and increase revenue then it wouldn't need external investment. The perfect storm of Covid-19, EFL governance and FFP will bring football clubs to their knees. Investment brings excitement, no or limited investment does very little. The fallout will be huge - hopefully a breakaway league or the complete scrapping of FFP will eventually come to light. 

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MackworthRamIsGod

MackworthRamIsGod

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53 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I was walking the dog earlier and I really started to think about the repercussions on the current situation on Football League clubs. I think, for the most part, we are all agreed that football will look very different in his country following on the Covid-19 pandemic. Clubs, already walking a financial tightrope, will be in turmoil. I imagine the majority of owners/investors in League One & League Two clubs will have businesses that won't be doing too well at present which will ultimately hinder their ability to help clubs making excessive losses. 

We see/hear/read every single day that the wages in the Premier League are outrageous and unsustainable. It's absolutely, categorically incorrect. The investment in the top level is absolutely there. Tottenham Hotspur spend 39% of their income on player wages announced in a recent report. We're on 168% in the Championship. We have a wage budget of £46.8m and they have a wage budget of £148m. In order to get to the same turnover/wage, as us then they would need to spend roughly £531m which would be equivalent of paying each player in a squad of 30 a whopping £340k a week! 

The problem is that the Premier League is on course to grow at an exponential rate over the course of the next decade. It's the most watched competition in world sport, with a more 'NFL-like' approach to their commercial team then they will at least triple their turnover. The Football League on other hand is just not an attractive proposition, so can only continue to live on Premier League handouts as that grows and the Football League stagnates. 

The follow on effect is huge:

1) Football League clubs will struggle to attract new supporters. It simply isn't exciting or fun having your best players leave every summer. On top of that, you've also got he constant talk about the money side on the game that really tarnishes the entertainment aspect. I have no doubt people will continue to support their local team, but half empty grounds are already the norm - I expect it to get worse. The HIGHEST average attendance to capacity in league two is 66.7% - Northampton Town with an average attendance of 5,101 in their 7,653 capacity stadium. The worst is Carlisle with an average attendance of 4,119 in their 17,949 capacity stadium. 17 out of the 24 teams are playing at below half capacity. In League One, it's not as bad with 9 out of the 24 teams playing at or below half capacity - only three play at or above 70% capacity. In the Championship, half the league play at or above 70% capacity. I really shouldn't have to post it, but every single Premier League club is playing above 90% capacity with Southampton at 91.6% being the lowest in the league. 

2) Footballers at all levels are naturally governed by the very top level. If you look at it this way: if you're a good Championship footballer then you're seen as a player that could potentially be a squad player in the Premier League. At the moment, a good Championship player can look to earn £15k a week without breaking their club's bank. A squad player in the Premier League would be expected to be picking up £40-50k a week. It means that footballers are looking to get paid - Chelsea have academy players that are on wages too high for Championship clubs. Derby have Sibley, Bird, Bogle...etc. They're all going to want to get paid their worth. The Football League has made it impossible for us to give them their worth without breaking the rules. Premier League clubs know that signing players from Football League clubs is just like shooting fish in a barrel. It would be much simpler if the Premier League was a closed league, because at the moment you have a grey area where Premier League clubs are being relegated, like Stoke, with players on 50-60k a week and other Championship clubs are having to meet players 'market value'. All EFL clubs have a difficult time keeping players, especially when the money is required to survive. Championship clubs as a whole made a £150m net profit on player transfers this past season, 4 years ago (14/15) it was only £20m. Yet, despite this, it doesn't seem like the health of the clubs in question has got any better. 

In fact, you can judge it for yourself: 

image.thumb.png.2b5f0ca32b8955ec0676608e7e11b716.png

 

3) This is the irony of it all - post Covid-19 clubs throughout the EFL are going to need investment! Unfortunately, the current FFP restrictions by their very definition will turn off investors who want to make money. If the EFL could market their product better and increase revenue then it wouldn't need external investment. The perfect storm of Covid-19, EFL governance and FFP will bring football clubs to their knees. Investment brings excitement, no or limited investment does very little. The fallout will be huge - hopefully a breakaway league or the complete scrapping of FFP will eventually come to light. 

I've said before.

Scrap FFP, bring in rigid Fit and Proper tests before a club is taken over, to reduce the possibility for a Leyton Orient or Chesterfield.

Stop an owner from being able to take out loans or mortgages, or at least put a limit on how much can be taken out.

Prevent an owner from taking money out of a club in X number of years, or set a % of overall turnover that can be taken out of the club, so basically only very rich owners at very well run clubs could look to make a return.

Set a limit what each club can spend in a year, bring in wage caps dependent on level of football etc.

If an owner wants to plow 100 million a year into a club to buy players within the limits then let them!

Just look at Aston Villas numbers last year, how are a club like Derby, let alone Rotherham, meant to compete against that without breaking current rules? It's just laughable.

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Gisby

Gisby

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1 hour ago, Ambitious said:

I was walking the dog earlier and I really started to think about the repercussions on the current situation on Football League clubs. I think, for the most part, we are all agreed that football will look very different in his country following on the Covid-19 pandemic. Clubs, already walking a financial tightrope, will be in turmoil. I imagine the majority of owners/investors in League One & League Two clubs will have businesses that won't be doing too well at present which will ultimately hinder their ability to help clubs making excessive losses. 

We see/hear/read every single day that the wages in the Premier League are outrageous and unsustainable. It's absolutely, categorically incorrect. The investment in the top level is absolutely there. Tottenham Hotspur spend 39% of their income on player wages announced in a recent report. We're on 168% in the Championship. We have a wage budget of £46.8m and they have a wage budget of £148m. In order to get to the same turnover/wage, as us then they would need to spend roughly £531m which would be equivalent of paying each player in a squad of 30 a whopping £340k a week! 

The problem is that the Premier League is on course to grow at an exponential rate over the course of the next decade. It's the most watched competition in world sport, with a more 'NFL-like' approach to their commercial team then they will at least triple their turnover. The Football League on other hand is just not an attractive proposition, so can only continue to live on Premier League handouts as that grows and the Football League stagnates. 

The follow on effect is huge:

1) Football League clubs will struggle to attract new supporters. It simply isn't exciting or fun having your best players leave every summer. On top of that, you've also got he constant talk about the money side on the game that really tarnishes the entertainment aspect. I have no doubt people will continue to support their local team, but half empty grounds are already the norm - I expect it to get worse. The HIGHEST average attendance to capacity in league two is 66.7% - Northampton Town with an average attendance of 5,101 in their 7,653 capacity stadium. The worst is Carlisle with an average attendance of 4,119 in their 17,949 capacity stadium. 17 out of the 24 teams are playing at below half capacity. In League One, it's not as bad with 9 out of the 24 teams playing at or below half capacity - only three play at or above 70% capacity. In the Championship, half the league play at or above 70% capacity. I really shouldn't have to post it, but every single Premier League club is playing above 90% capacity with Southampton at 91.6% being the lowest in the league. 

2) Footballers at all levels are naturally governed by the very top level. If you look at it this way: if you're a good Championship footballer then you're seen as a player that could potentially be a squad player in the Premier League. At the moment, a good Championship player can look to earn £15k a week without breaking their club's bank. A squad player in the Premier League would be expected to be picking up £40-50k a week. It means that footballers are looking to get paid - Chelsea have academy players that are on wages too high for Championship clubs. Derby have Sibley, Bird, Bogle...etc. They're all going to want to get paid their worth. The Football League has made it impossible for us to give them their worth without breaking the rules. Premier League clubs know that signing players from Football League clubs is just like shooting fish in a barrel. It would be much simpler if the Premier League was a closed league, because at the moment you have a grey area where Premier League clubs are being relegated, like Stoke, with players on 50-60k a week and other Championship clubs are having to meet players 'market value'. All EFL clubs have a difficult time keeping players, especially when the money is required to survive. Championship clubs as a whole made a £150m net profit on player transfers this past season, 4 years ago (14/15) it was only £20m. Yet, despite this, it doesn't seem like the health of the clubs in question has got any better. 

In fact, you can judge it for yourself: 

image.thumb.png.2b5f0ca32b8955ec0676608e7e11b716.png

 

3) This is the irony of it all - post Covid-19 clubs throughout the EFL are going to need investment! Unfortunately, the current FFP restrictions by their very definition will turn off investors who want to make money. If the EFL could market their product better and increase revenue then it wouldn't need external investment. The perfect storm of Covid-19, EFL governance and FFP will bring football clubs to their knees. Investment brings excitement, no or limited investment does very little. The fallout will be huge - hopefully a breakaway league or the complete scrapping of FFP will eventually come to light. 

You came up with all this whilst out walking the dog!!! I just throw mine a stick ???

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Rev

Rev

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Won't quote your whole post @Ambitious, but do you think the rumour reported by Martin Samuel has any legs?

If you haven't read it, he's saying one option that's been discussed amongst the Championship is all teams to enter adminstration at the same time, with an agreement they won't poach players from each other as a result. Nothing to stop other teams from different leagues doing so, as players would effectively become free agents.

The teams could effectively write off 75% of non football debt, be purchased back by their owner/s, offer much lower contracts to existing footballers, who by that point would be free agents and therefore incomeless, and move forward with the table as it is, seeing as everyone would be hit with the same points deduction.

Seems a mental idea to me, but what that's kicking around in EFL circles.

 

 

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Ambitious

Ambitious

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5 hours ago, reverendo de duivel said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8197663/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Championship-owners-considering-group-administration-solve-wages-dilemma.html

Article here, on the one hand it's the Mail, on the other hand it's their best writer.

Plenty to drink in on that one. I'm a huge, huge fan of conspiring to ensue chaos but this is absolutely a non-starter. 

1) Championship clubs agree to not go after each others players. Right, even considering that would be true, the same article freely admits that teams from other leagues can effectively pick up whomever they want on a free. Derby will effectively release Sibley, Bird, Knight, Bielik and Bogle. Jude Bellingham who is one hell of a meal ticket for Birmingham will be allowed to leave for nothing? Premier League teams will pick them up in a heart beat, if only to fill their u23 side. Not to mention the sides from abroad. 

2) The other aspect that confuses me, the players will earn their guaranteed salary anyway? 

Quote

Current rules state that football creditors, such as players, receive 100 per cent of what they are owed before a new business can be launched. Other employees, and non-football-related creditors, receive 25p in the pound, paid on takeover of the club's assets.

All to set the reset button, which doesn't seem like a good idea for a number of clubs already working within their margins. It's only a few, but why on earth would they agree to such a thing? 

3) Players could and most likely would refuse to sign with their team, knowing they hit the free market and the whole reason for this movement is to lower player wages. Why on earth would someone like Tom Lawrence take a big wage cut to sign for the same team, considering he could just move to another league - France, Spain, Dutch...etc - to earn what he was on before, perhaps more since there is no fee? 

If it gets the Football League to sweat a bit, perhaps in order to forego FFP, it could be worth the paper it was written on. I somehow doubt it, though, this is akin to a 4 year old telling his mum he's going to run away from home when he gets veg instead of chips for dinner. 

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The Key Club King

The Key Club King

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14 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

Set a limit what each club can spend in a year, bring in wage caps dependent on level of football etc.

If an owner wants to plow 100 million a year into a club to buy players within the limits then let them!

Just look at Aston Villas numbers last year, how are a club like Derby, let alone Rotherham, meant to compete against that without breaking current rules? It's just laughable.

Set a limit to spending and wages AND allow an owner to plow in £100m? Does that make the limit £100m then?

Villa got promoted last year but the turnover of different clubs getting promoted/relegated from the Premier League remains pretty much the same since 1992 and all the extra money. Parachute payments have made little difference to promotion and relegation, which I find remarkable given that they are over 100% of turnover. 

The EFL's job is to make and uphold rules that clubs agree upon. Some of these rules are to stop financial mismanagement by its members. The number of clubs going into administration has gone down hugely since FFP was introduced. It isn't perfect, but the clubs that complain are usually the ones that are dangerously close to the limits. 

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Mazzaram

Mazzaram

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This may be old in the tooth, but I think Murdoch and Sky are to blame for all of the mess we are currently in in our society. I know that sounds like a sweeping judgement, but the 'media machine' has absolutely taken over. Have you noticed how many 'experts' (presumably on fat salaries) 'grace' our TV screens? Even the BBC is following the Sky model for news broadcasts. On the BBC news the other night, we got told first by Huw Edwards that the Prime Minister was responding to treatment and had been sitting up in bed. It then showed a clip of Rishi Sunak saying exactly the same thing. We were then transferred to Laura Kuennsberg who then said exactly the same. So, in the space of 30 seconds, we received the same bit of news 3 times by people who all command their wedge. Why? So called experts on football clutter the TV coverage. Why do we have to listen to the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Graeme Souness? Worse still, Don Goodman et al. How much of a pay cut are they taking whilst they castigate professional footballers for not doing more? Journalists shamefully hound people to get an exclusive, going to lengths that have infringed civil liberties and ruined lives. Reality TV has led to the rise of so called celebrities who court the media attention. Why should I care about the Kardashians or who is the latest in the Big Brother house or the jungle?

When you stop to consider how much money is being flushed down the toilet to support all this drivel, it is frightening. Call me old school, but for me, it is the 'cancer' of society.

Rant over. Bring on the day!

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The Key Club King

The Key Club King

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13 hours ago, Gisby said:

I was walking the dog earlier and I really started to think about the repercussions on the current situation on Football League clubs. I think, for the most part, we are all agreed that football will look very different in his country following on the Covid-19 pandemic. Clubs, already walking a financial tightrope, will be in turmoil. I imagine the majority of owners/investors in League One & League Two clubs will have businesses that won't be doing too well at present which will ultimately hinder their ability to help clubs making excessive losses. 

Excellent post in general on the future of the PL/EFL. A couple of my thoughts on it:

The Football League's attendances, as with the Premier League's, have been rising steadily since the 1980s and there is no sign of this changing yet or any indication that it may changw. 

PL teams pay enormous amounts to EFL teams for their best players which suggests that a hard bargain is being made rather than fish in a barrell. No other second tier league in Europe comes close to the Championship in terms of player sale revenue. 

Player wages are the obvious issue and that is indeed a result of pressure from the top flight. The only way around this is a wage cap that somehow incorporates the relegated club's inflated wage bill into the system for a brief period. I would suggest a return to a more even distribution of income between the leagues that still rewards the top clubs the most to keep international interest. 

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europia

europia

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On 08/04/2020 at 08:32, RamNut said:

Presumably our case will not be resolved this season, because whoever loses is bound to appeal.

It's a shame, as it would result with the following season being at best under a cloud of uncertainty, or at worst with devastation of points deduction.   

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