Premier League and Championship gap must remain says former agent

March 8, 2024Ligue 1

The winners of the Championship Play-Off final, dubbed ‘the world’s richest game,’ are often sent tumbling straight back to the English second-tier after a season in the Premier League.

Even the two teams that go up automatically are beginning to religiously suffer the same fate.

No need to change Premier League status quo says former agent

Take this season’s Premier League bottom three; Luton, who were promoted via the Play-Off final, are third from bottom, and Burnley, who romped the Championship by 10 points from Sheffield United, find themselves second bottom just above the Blades.

Such a scenario is becoming more and more common, but Premier League co-creator, Jon Smith, doesn’t believe there’s any reason to change the status quo to address the imbalance.

“I hate gerrymandering stuff that is not real and the supporters wouldn’t like it either,” he said in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside.

“Clubs need to work more diligently once they’ve been promoted from the Championship into the Premier League.

“Brighton have had a good level of management all the way through their time in the top-flight, and Forest and Wolves have also done well during their time in the top division.

“There is a mindset that says let’s bank the £120m check, let’s spend £60m and if we go down we go down £60m richer than we were and we’ve got the use of parachute payments.

“I think that the parachute payment needs to be looked at, but the Premier League is the most successful sporting league in the world so why change it?”

It does seem that far too many clubs coming up are focused on the uplift in finances and subsequent parachute payments, rather than being more diligent with regards to their business practices.