FOR all the excitement of last season and Millwall remarkably taking their play-of challenge to the last day, there was a depressingly familiar feel about the top of the Championship.
Fulham went straight back up as champions and AFC Bournemouth joined them after just two seasons in the second tier.
It is the Cottagers’ third promotion to the Premier League over the last five seasons since Millwall came up from League One.
And that is something that has become more of a regular feature of the division.
Norwich have been relegated immediately after promotion to the Premier League three times in a row.
Both the Canaries and Watford were relegated in 2019-20 only to go back up the following season. No doubt they will be among the front-runners again next season after relegation in 2021-22.
It’s not difficult to identify the main root of this problem, where the same handful of clubs are going up and coming back down.
The Premier League introduced parachute payments in 2006-07 and said “they allow clubs to invest in their teams, and wider operations, in the knowledge that should they be relegated they have provisions in place to re-adjust their finances.
“Since 2016-17, payments are made over three years, with the amount received decreasing after each year.”
In 2017-18, for example, the Premier League forked out £243m in parachute payments which was split between eight clubs. Solidarity payments of £100million were split between the remaining 64 EFL clubs.
Two of those eight clubs – Cardiff and Fulham – were promoted, while another – Aston Villa – reached the play-off final.
It’s no wonder that Lions CEO Steve Kavanagh wants to see changes.
“At the moment there is a cliff edge between the Premier League and the Championship,” Kavanagh told NewsAtDen. “And if there’s a cliff edge, if you fall off that cliff you need a parachute.
“If you bring the revenue gaps closer together and, as [EFL chairman] Rick Parry says, make it a step – you should be rewarded for getting to the Premier League, of course you should – but make it a step, not a cliff edge, which it has become, then you don’t need a parachute to step off a step.
“Redistribution is critical to the long-term future and sustainability of football. And everyone in the EFL accepts that redistribution has to come with regulations to ensure that redistribution doesn’t just lead to the same amount of losses that have led to clubs being in serious financial difficulty and even big clubs such as Derby risking going out of business.
“We need the regulations to make sure that money goes into making these clubs sustainable so it isn’t just then being spewed out the back end.
“It’s more than just parachutes, it’s about holistically redefining where that gap between the Championship and the Premier League is and making sure the Championship can be sustainable but also can aspire to get into the Premier League and be capable of doing it.
“Otherwise football is in danger of becoming boring because with the same teams going up and down, it ruins the dream.
“That dream should be there. Nottingham Forest just got back after 23 years and a lot of hard work, a lot of money, and we need to make sure that that transition of clubs like Forest and the ability of a club like Millwall to get into the Premier League, that isn’t just a pipedream, it can be a reality based on good, solid hard work and by doing things properly behind the scenes rather than having to go into the casino and stick everything on red.”
Millwall won’t be taking gambles like that, but if something doesn’t change then the odds on promotion to the Premier League will always be stacked against them.
Image: Millwall FC