…as Wenger urges Premier League clubs to share wealth with smaller clubs
English Football League clubs have rejected a £50m rescue package for League One and League Two after deeming the bailout inadequate and insist Championship clubs should be part of any deal.
Clubs are uncomfortable with the Premier League excluding second-tier teams from the loans and grants package on offer and league executives are unanimous in believing Championship clubs must be part of any future conversation, reports The Guardian.
Clubs also believe the EFL and not the Premier League should dictate where any financial support goes, although there is an acknowledgment that most League One and League Two clubs are in greater peril than those in the Championship and would be the first to receive such help.
A Championship source stressed the EFL is “72 clubs, not 48” and acknowledged the EFL must continue dialogue with the Premier League to establish a sufficient financial package.
One League One chairman described the Premier League’s offer, which was £20m in grants and £30m placed in reserve to prevent any clubs from going bust, as “embarrassing, disgraceful and disingenuous”, adding that the deal was akin to giving a “starving child tidbits to survive”.
A statement from the EFL was more conciliatory, saying that “while EFL clubs are appreciative that a formal proposal has now been put forward, the conditional offer of £50m falls some way short of this”.
Emphasising the solidarity among the clubs it said: “There was a strong consensus that any rescue package must meet the requirements of all 72 clubs before it can be considered in full … The EFL is keen to continue discussions with the Premier League to reach an agreeable solution.”
There is a general appreciation that the Project Big Picture proposal rejected by Premier League clubs on Wednesday, which was put forward by Manchester United and Liverpool, together with Rick Parry, the EFL chairman, containing a £250m bailout, was “one step too far” but clubs believe something closer to that package is required. Parry is understood to have EFL clubs’ unanimous backing.
Meanwhile, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said the wealth of the Premier League should be more fairly shared out among all professional football clubs in England or some of them may not survive.
Wenger, who is FIFA’s chief of global football development, told Sky News presenter Mark Austin: “You have 92 clubs and that is too many to survive in England.
“Why? Today the modern fan supports the national team, supports a big club and supports his local team.
“The local supporters shrink and the smaller clubs have more difficulties to survive. Maybe you have to reduce the number of professional clubs.
“Maybe the second solution is to better share what is coming into the elite with the other clubs.”
Wenger, 70, was speaking a day after the Project Big Picture plan proposed by Liverpool and Manchester United last week was unanimously rejected by the 20 Premier League clubs.
Under the scheme, two clubs would have dropped out of the Premier League.
“That is not very brave from people who thought about that for a long time. Suddenly the project, then the next day they vote against their own project,” he said.
The former football manager, who was not convinced by the £250m bailout for English Football League (EFL) clubs also outlined in the project, said he believed the entire football league needed restructuring.
But he said it needed be done by “respecting the basis of the competition – that means on sporting merit”.
Many clubs are struggling financially during the COVID-19 lockdown, with fans unable to see games and gate receipts – more important to smaller clubs – wiped out.
Last year, before the pandemic, Bury FC went out of business and was expelled from the league.
Others thought to be in danger are Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic, Oldham Athletic and Southend United.
The Frenchman also addressed the issue of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) coaches struggling to break through to the top jobs in English football, but said he was not sure whether people were being discriminated against.
He said: “Honestly, I don’t know. Sport can be a huge example for society because in sport you don’t look at the colour of the skin, you look at how good you are. Sport is based on merit.
“Does racism exist in the stands? Certainly. How do we punish it? That is the question. Today, you have a technical solution, try to identify people and ban them from coming to the game.
“If I am the owner of a club looking to employ a manager, I don’t look at the colour of his skin, I look at what he tells me, what is his plan?
“I think it’s maybe a matter of time, maybe they don’t want to be managers. There are black managers,” he said.
Wenger managed Arsenal for 22 years and oversaw more than 1,000 matches, leading them to three league titles and seven FA Cups.
