With the recent transfer window debacle now done and dusted, it was most evident that most fans on this site thought that the FFP rules ensure the rich grow richer and the poor are kept in their place. The rules have been put into place to help stop clubs going beyond their financial means and into liquidation. However, it also makes it harder for the “have nots” to break into the elite top 6 clubs that have consistently thrived on increased revenues of European football and sponsorship deals. This top six also dominate all the major transfer dealings and the rest are left for the scraps. The top six I allude to is of course, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham.
However, I believe if you look beyond the CL and FFP there has also been another factor working for this elite group. Before the inception of the Premier League in 1992, we had the old first division that consisted of 22 clubs. Each season two teams were relegated and were replaced by the top two in division two. Percentage wise that meant that we lost a little over 9% of the existing teams every season. At that rate if none of the clubs relegated came back in the next three seasons, the attrition rate from the division would be 27% over that period of three years. Enter the Premier League and we have a reduction of clubs to twenty and an increase of relegated clubs to three. That now means we lose 15% of clubs every year and if the same scenario was to follow over three years it would be a reduction of 45% of clubs in just three years!
Over the EPL twenty year period Man City have been relegated twice, but for obvious reasons I would suggest that they are an exception to the point I am about to make. Last season with only three games to play, it was mathematically possible for any club from 9th place to be relegated. Similar scenarios happen nearly every season.The intense pressure this puts managers and the clubs under is enormous. But the main problem is that too many clubs go down, and with it comes the financial meltdown that results in losing their best players and most streams of high revenue. Realistically the parachute payments don’t help much because these teams can rarely keep their best players. All this uncertainty only makes that elite six stronger and with Everton possibly being the only exception, every other clubs goal at the start of each season is to avoid the drop. The facts are that 5 clubs who have finished last since 1992 are now playing in today’s EPL, and nine who have been relegated over the same time are back in the top flight. But at what cost? We only have to look at the players we have lost in our two relegated seasons to understand it requires a near complete rebuilding of the club to get us back. The constant tear me down, build me up process that relegated clubs have to endure, again just feeds the elite group. For some clubs like Leeds and Forest it can mean especially tough times as they continue to struggle to get back.
The money grab of the Championship play offs at the end of the season has been an excuse that we can’t do away with the current system. In my opinion it just needs rejigging. The bottom team in the EPL is replaced by the Championship winner. The team that finishes second last in the EPL joins the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed Championship teams in the same play off format as is currently used. We are back to two up and two down and whilst it would be harder to get into the EPL it would also be harder to lose out once there. Financially the league would be better off as well as less parachute payments would be required, even more so if the EPL 19th placed team won the play off’s. With this system I am sure a lot of the fear factor would go out of many games which would surely lead to better quality matches? Whilst it is the Champions League that has been by far the biggest catalyst in making the elite bigger, more stability in the ranks would surely help the other teams build, grow and emerge as challengers. Surely this would be better than thirteen of the EPL clubs starting each season with just a 40 point goal?
Some downsides I see to the points made are that some fans prefer to see a variety of teams each season. New clubs to the EPL over the years have provided great entertainment despite failing at the new level. One that springs to mind is Blackpool. I know some fans would like to “beam me back Scotty” to the days before all the money in the game made it possible for an elite group to be formed. Also, if more teams in the EPL become wealthier, would it make it even harder for the newly promoted clubs to survive more than a season? Another scenario to consider is for the 17th placed EPL club to join the play offs? So, is the current 3 up 3 down system the right way to go?