The Championship financial boost for Portsmouth, Derby County, West Brom & Co with wind of change set to sweep division
The Pompey chief believes fewer Championship teams receiving parachute payments is good news for his club as Burnley and Leeds United return to the Premier League.
Andy Cullen has highlighted a more balanced Championship financial landscape next season.
And the Pompey chief executive believes fewer teams being in receipt of parachute payments can help with making the division a more level playing field.
The 2025-26 campaign will see a reduction in sides having the huge advantage of receiving a share of the whopping £1.6 billion set aside by the Premier League, for teams dropping out of the top flight.
Teams who return to the Premier League in that time ‘reset their counters’, as will be the case with Burnley and Leeds United after their successes in the past campaign. Meanwhile, Luton Town dropped straight into League One, meaning they will receive their second £39m tranche outside of the second tier.
They were three of the six teams in receipt of parachute parachute payments last season, along with Watford, Norwich City and beaten play-off finalists Sheffield United.
The Blades will benefit from £39m, but with Watford and Norwich City relegated from the Premier League in the 2021-22 season they are now outside of that three-year period.
That means four teams instead of six receiving parachute payments next season, which is good news for Pompey and their divisional rivals who don’t receive such an advantage.
There is the small matter of the financial muscle of Wrexham and Birmingham City coming into the division from the other direction, however, a potentially foreboding prospect which would have been deepened with more sides having parachute payments.
He said: ‘There are the three teams who are coming down who will be in receipt of parachute payments, while Luton will be in receipt of a parachute payment in League One.
‘The other one is Sheffield United (who lost in the play-off final to Sunderland), so there will be fewer teams receiving parachute payments - and I think that helps with the competitiveness of the league.’
Though Pompey are currently at a clear financial disadvantage to those receiving parachute payments, the good news is there is a wind of change set to sweep through English football which is positive for the Blues - and the game’s sustainability.
The Football Governance Bill is establishing a new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) for the English game, with the bill currently passing through Parliament.
David Kogan, who has a background advising the likes of the Premier League and EFL on TV deals, is the government’s preferred choice as chair - though that decision is to face an inquiry by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Significantly, the regulator will have ‘backstop’ powers to mediate a settlement between the EFL and Premier League, on a new funding deal over the manner in which money makes its way down the football pyramid.
With parachute payments at the heart of that distribution and the two bodies opposed over the current set-up, the incoming IFR is set to bring the issue to a head.
Kogan said last month legislation had ‘set the clock ticking’ before the IFR’s introduction, as he called for the two sides to reach an agreement before the regulator’s forced to intervene.