This is what we’re up against

[Day]

£125m for being the worst team in the league.

Just let that sink in.

One hundred and twenty five million pounds for being crap.

That’s 3 clubs coming down with a total of £381m, but that’s not all, the Premier League will also give them parachute payments to soften the blow.

Sorry to start another topic on this, but it’s a topic that needs to be repeated, football is broken. It’s broken and they are doing nothing about it. Why?

We have to try and compete with those 3 next year, with barely any revenue we have to compete against clubs with over £100m in their back pockets.

What hope do we have?

Yes I know money doesn’t always = success, Brentford beat Bournemouth, made it to Wembley but how many years have they been trying to get there? 

Whoever goes up it’s a major achievement, getting past the parachute payment clubs, it’s huge, one season up there and they have banked over £100m, it’s madness.

We can never have a completely level playing field, I understand that, but the PL and EFL could come together and distribute that money out more fairly.

Why are they not?

Why are these questions not being asked?

Do we need to see more clubs liquidated, more clubs going bankrupt trying to compete from the Championship to League 2, all the national media journalists will be all over that, justice for Bury, why not call it out now? 

Heads are so far up the Premier League’s backside the Football League barely gets a mention.

I’m ranting I know, but £125m for being crap. 

Who signs off on that and thinks it’s good for football? 

It’s broken, football is broken.

[i-Ram]

Ah, you do have some bias here. If you were a Citeh or Chelski fan you might think different ?

The game was ducked a long, long, time ago. Nothings going to change as the EFL are much more interested with looking in rather than looking out, and the Premier League offer the best protectionism service since the Krays.

[Jourdan]

We finished below Luton, Coventry, Huddersfield, Preston, Blackburn and Millwall et al.

I think the three relegated teams with £170 million incoming are the least of our concerns.

Yes, the system is not a perfect one. But this hasn’t stopped relegated clubs being outperformed before and nor will it in the future.

We’d have hope if the club was being run well and we had a competent manager in place.

[Andrew3000]

Well said.  Quite agree that this inequality is completely anti- competitive and ruining the game. FFP is nonsense and just limits the means to compete even further and benefits no-one. Instead of petty squabbles between championship clubs about who is breaking the rules, they should be working together to protest about the bigger picture.

[Day]

3 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Ah, you do have some bias here. If you were a Citeh or Chelski fan you might think different ?

The game was ducked a long, long, time ago. Nothings going to change as the EFL are much more interested with looking in rather than looking out, and the Premier League offer the best protectionism service since the Krays.

Won’t dispute that, and I wouldn’t expect City or Chelsea fans to be discussing this either.

They are on another planet, yeah I’m jealous, I would love to see the best players playing at Pride Park in Europe, not worrying about who can afford to lose their millions here to keep us afloat.

But here we are, we can see the damage it’s doing below the Premier League, we need to be calling it out, drawing attention to it as it’s wrong, it’s breaking the game.

Football is more than just the Premier League. Shout it from the rooftops.

[rammieib]

Well they’re not coming down with £381m. That’s money they’ve spent already, certainly most of it.

In return a losing culture and players who may not want to be there. Most teams then lose their best 1-2 players on top of this.

Agreed that a parachute payment makes it harder but that’s a legacy affect of clubs trying to compete and therefore having players on a lot of money.

The real issue for me is the salaries players get paid. This has distorted the picture and the knock in effect is everywhere. It’s why Lawrence and Waghorn are on 20-30k because the market has justified it when top prem players are on 200-300k a week.

However if you cap that, clubs will find a way around it. We (nearly) found ways around P&S. Pay them what you want.

I would abolish P&S full stop. If an owner wants to spend his own money, let them.

[Mckram]

It is madness. I don’t agree with the parachute payments either. Maybe 1 season of parachute payments to sort yourself out, but 3 years is bonkers. Even then it could be argued do you need any parachute payments when you’ve just banked £125m.

[IslandExile]

Football needs a total reset.

[i-Ram]

2 minutes ago, David said:

Won’t dispute that, and I wouldn’t expect City or Chelsea fans to be discussing this either.

They are on another planet, yeah I’m jealous, I would love to see the best players playing at Pride Park in Europe, not worrying about who can afford to lose their millions here to keep us afloat.

But here we are, we can see the damage it’s doing below the Premier League, we need to be calling it out, drawing attention to it as it’s wrong, it’s breaking the game.

Football is more than just the Premier League. Shout it from the rooftops.

I hear you Brother, and I am behind you all the way. But don't rely on either the EPL, the EFL, or the FA, to join in and be supportive. The Football Industry needs Governmental scrutiny and non-Premier League fans all over the Country should be getting a petition going for this to be debated in the House of Commons.

[Day]

15 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

We finished below Luton, Coventry, Huddersfield, Preston, Blackburn and Millwall et al.

I think the three relegated teams with £170 million incoming are the least of our concerns.

Yes, the system is not a perfect one. But this hasn’t stopped relegated clubs being outperformed before and nor will it in the future.

We’d have hope if the club was being run well and we had a competent manager in place.

Didn’t take long.

But this is more than just Derby. I can point you towards more than a dozen topics that are sticking the boot into the club where you could have a whale of a time.

Can even find a couple where AFC Derby and full on liquidation scenarios for doomsday.

Regardless of where we finished, who’s in charge it’s wrong, we should be able to call that out without attacking our own club yet again.

The prize money on offer in the Premier League is obscene, the numbers are more nauseating when you consider grounds have been empty for over a year in 3 leagues, 3 leagues which unlike the Premier League ticket revenue accounts for a large percentage of the clubs yearly revenue.

But yeah, let’s ignore that to complain about Rooney again because that’s the biggest issue the Football League is facing right now. 

[Eddie]

20 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

We finished below Luton, Coventry, Huddersfield, Preston, Blackburn and Millwall et al.

I think the three relegated teams with £170 million incoming are the least of our concerns.

Yes, the system is not a perfect one. But this hasn’t stopped relegated clubs being outperformed before and nor will it in the future.

We’d have hope if the club was being run well and we had a competent manager in place.

How predictable - a veiled anti-Mel rant from Jourdan. Must be a day with a 'd' in it.

[Woodley Ram]

28 minutes ago, David said:

£125m for being the worst team in the league.

Just let that sink in.

One hundred and twenty five million pounds for being crap.

That’s 3 clubs coming down with a total of £381m, but that’s not all, the Premier League will also give them parachute payments to soften the blow.

Sorry to start another topic on this, but it’s a topic that needs to be repeated, football is broken. It’s broken and they are doing nothing about it. Why?

We have to try and compete with those 3 next year, with barely any revenue we have to compete against clubs with over £100m in their back pockets.

What hope do we have?

Yes I know money doesn’t always = success, Brentford beat Bournemouth, made it to Wembley but how many years have they been trying to get there? 

Whoever goes up it’s a major achievement, getting past the parachute payment clubs, it’s huge, one season up there and they have banked over £100m, it’s madness.

We can never have a completely level playing field, I understand that, but the PL and EFL could come together and distribute that money out more fairly.

Why are they not?

Why are these questions not being asked?

Do we need to see more clubs liquidated, more clubs going bankrupt trying to compete from the Championship to League 2, all the national media journalists will be all over that, justice for Bury, why not call it out now? 

Heads are so far up the Premier League’s backside the Football League barely gets a mention.

I’m ranting I know, but £125m for being crap. 

Who signs off on that and thinks it’s good for football? 

It’s broken, football is broken.

whilst this is true it doesn't take into account their liabilities such as wages, ongoing payment of legacy transfer fees etc . Still partially in a Covid era where Championship clubs with out parachute payments are now existing on peanuts its not exactly a level playing field or even the same playing field for that matter. 

[GboroRam]

9 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

I hear you Brother, and I am behind you all the way. But don't rely on either the EPL, the EFL, or the FA, to join in and be supportive. The Football Industry needs Governmental scrutiny and non-Premier League fans all over the Country should be getting a petition going for this to be debated in the House of Commons.

Football has been broken for as long as I can remember - it's more broken now than ever before I would say.

However, while we thought we had a rich Mel throwing money at getting us up there, we didn't have many complaints. In fact the only complaints we had were about P&S restricting our "ambition" (in other words, our ability to buy success).

I look at FC United fans with envy. I would be more than happy to go back to the bottom of the league if we could start again with the right attitude and put the soul back into being a football supporter. I'm not a "legacy fan", I'm a fan. Football's top echelon has reached the point where they've no use for us, and want to sack us all off for the global armchair fan to take our place. The rest of the football league want to cling on to the broken system, hanging on to the hope of scoring a place in the top 20 so they can pull in the £125m for being crap. 

I would be happy to see the European Super League pull away and the rest of the league restructure, but I don't see it happening with fairness in mind. They all just want to get on the bus, make large sums for being mostly below average and screw the rest of the league and the fans.

I'd also be happy (unpopular opinion coming) to see the club fold and start again, if we could start it off on a different footing where the fan matters more than the money. I've no idea if that would happen, or even if it could happen - but the alternative is seeing the top echelon wanting to do their own thing, and the rest of the clubs fighting for Prem cash at any cost. It's boring, it's pointless and it is unfulfilling.

I'm bored of being crap, and I'm bored of our moaning that we need a new rich owner with "ambition" to come and buy us some success. But that's the only way you get it now, barring a bit of a miracle.

[Day]

1 minute ago, Woodley Ram said:

whilst this is true it doesn't take into account their liabilities such as wages, ongoing payment of legacy transfer fees etc . Still partially in a Covid era where Championship clubs with out parachute payments are now existing on peanuts its not exactly a level playing field or even the same playing field for that matter. 

Also doesn’t take into account the individual clubs revenue, sponsorship, kit deals, advertising, merchandise etc.

Not sure Sheffield United’s wage bill would raise any eyebrows, also wouldn’t be surprised if they had relegation clauses written in.

Parachute payments were designed to soften the blow with wage bills, but they are being used to strengthen their squads further. 

I don’t blame them, makes sense to, no rule to say they can’t and who wants to stay around in the Championship.

[Nuwtfly]

Caps, Caps, Caps...and not the kind you find on a keyboard.

It's the only way I can see the EFL ever getting a handle on the equality of spending in this division.

Wage caps. Spending caps. I'm waving my cap and my little red book as we speak. 

Of course, this will never happen, because you'd need all leagues to do the same, and the Premier League are never, ever going to agree to that.

After all, it is the greed of the Premier League that has caused this mess.

[RadioactiveWaste]

The parachute payments were brought in because there were fears relegated clubs would start going bust quite often, but it became something different...

Need to stop them, and ffp needs to become about debt Vs turnover and not spend.

[Jourdan]

8 minutes ago, David said:

Didn’t take long.

But this is more than just Derby. I can point you towards more than a dozen topics that are sticking the boot into the club where you could have a whale of a time.

Can even find a couple where AFC Derby and full on liquidation scenarios for doomsday.

Regardless of where we finished, who’s in charge it’s wrong, we should be able to call that out without attacking our own club yet again.

The prize money on offer in the Premier League is obscene, the numbers are more nauseating when you consider grounds have been empty for over a year in 3 leagues, 3 leagues which unlike the Premier League ticket revenue accounts for a large percentage of the clubs yearly revenue.

But yeah, let’s ignore that to complain about Rooney again because that’s the biggest issue the Football League is facing right now. 

Look at some of the title wins across Europe. Lille, Sporting, Atletico. How did this happen if there are irretrievable levels of financial inequality in the game?

Look at some of the performances in the Premier League. How did Leicester and West Ham finish 5th and 6th ahead of the likes of Spurs and Arsenal?

Look at the Championship. Luton, Barnsley and Wycombe had fantastic seasons despite this inequality.

Football will always be like that. The haves, the have nots. That’s what makes the sport so incredible - seeing teams beat the odds.

I’d say the same if I supported any other club. We have nothing to complain about. This system has been in place for decades. We have just never played it well.

I’d totally share your point if we were a model club, had always lived within our means, and had still fallen short.

But we had a spell of four top six finishes in six seasons and pushed the club to the limit financially after having a spell of being amongst the biggest spenders in the league. We missed our opportunity. No point crying about financial inequality now. We weren’t in 2015.

[i-Ram]

7 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

Football has been broken for as long as I can remember - it's more broken now than ever before I would say.

However, while we thought we had a rich Mel throwing money at getting us up there, we didn't have many complaints. In fact the only complaints we had were about P&S restricting our "ambition" (in other words, our ability to buy success).

I look at FC United fans with envy. I would be more than happy to go back to the bottom of the league if we could start again with the right attitude and put the soul back into being a football supporter. I'm not a "legacy fan", I'm a fan. Football's top echelon has reached the point where they've no use for us, and want to sack us all off for the global armchair fan to take our place. The rest of the football league want to cling on to the broken system, hanging on to the hope of scoring a place in the top 20 so they can pull in the £125m for being crap. 

I would be happy to see the European Super League pull away and the rest of the league restructure, but I don't see it happening with fairness in mind. They all just want to get on the bus, make large sums for being mostly below average and screw the rest of the league and the fans.

I'd also be happy (unpopular opinion coming) to see the club fold and start again, if we could start it off on a different footing where the fan matters more than the money. I've no idea if that would happen, or even if it could happen - but the alternative is seeing the top echelon wanting to do their own thing, and the rest of the clubs fighting for Prem cash at any cost. It's boring, it's pointless and it is unfulfilling.

I'm bored of being crap, and I'm bored of our moaning that we need a new rich owner with "ambition" to come and buy us some success. But that's the only way you get it now, barring a bit of a miracle.

I like much of this, except the club folding. I don't crave Premier League status. My unpopular opinion is that I wouldn't have minded too much if we went down last season. I think I would have gone to more away games in League 1 for the away day crack, than I would in the Championship. Truth be told during Covid I have missed live music much more than live football. 

[DCFC Kicks]

33 minutes ago, David said:

yeah I’m jealous, I would love to see the best players playing at Pride Park in Europe

Why? When you have all that money the success is meaningless, It must be a rubbish experience as a fan when every season you don't win everything is a bad one. Like Celtic or Man City. 

[Nuwtfly]

5 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Look at some of the title wins across Europe. Lille, Sporting, Atletico. How did this happen if there are irretrievable levels of financial inequality in the game?

Look at some of the performances in the Premier League. How did Leicester and West Ham finish 5th and 6th ahead of the likes of Spurs and Arsenal?

Look at the Championship. Luton, Barnsley and Wycombe had fantastic seasons despite this inequality.

Football will always be like that. The haves, the have nots. That’s what makes the sport so incredible - seeing teams beat the odds.

I’d say the same if I supported any other club. We have nothing to complain about. This system has been in place for decades. We have just never played it well.

I’d totally share your point if we were a model club, had always lived within our means, and had still fallen short.

But we had a spell of four top six finishes in six seasons and pushed the club to the limit financially after having a spell of being amongst the biggest spenders in the league. We missed our opportunity. No point crying about financial inequality now. We weren’t in 2015.

Is the point not that, though all these things you mention here can and often do happen, we should still strive for an even playing field and indeed and even starting point for every team at the beginning of every season in their respective leagues?

Parachute payments create inequality in our division, and that inequality is getting more and more out of control.

We will end up with a small, closed off sect of teams each season in the Championship that will look more like a Premier League waiting room than anything else!