The riches of the Premier League are on offer for Sunderland and Sheffield United as they face off in today’s EFL Championship play-off final, but the promotion dream could quickly turn sour even for the winners.
For the second consecutive season all three promoted sides from the Championship have been swiftly dumped straight back into the second tier at the first time of asking.
Before the 2023-2024 campaign, that had only happened once in English top-flight history, back in 1997-1998.
Photo: PA via AP
The growing gulf between the two leagues is evidenced by the points tallies of the bottom three in the past two seasons.
Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United went down 12 months ago with the lowest combined tally (66) of any three relegated teams in a 38-match Premier League season.
Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton are on course to smash that unwanted record with just 59 between them heading into the final weekend of the Premier League campaign.
The bottom three have won just two games between them this year against the top 17.
“It’s clear that the gap is big,” said Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna, who had secured back-to-back promotions prior to this season’s reality check. “When that happens for two seasons in a row, that’s 17 teams who have two full seasons of Premier League money and everything that comes with that, and it makes it harder for everyone to catch up.”
Sheffield United received ￡110 million (US$148 million) from the Premier League’s television and commercial deals last season for finishing bottom of the table.
Once parachute payments, which are dished out to relegated clubs for a period of three years after they go down are factored in, one season in the English top-flight can be worth more than ￡200 million.
The growing gulf between the top two divisions is not only a problem for the Premier League.
The EFL has grown increasingly concerned over the competitive balance of the Championship due to the impact of parachute payments.
Should Sheffield United join Leeds United and Burnley in going up, six of the last nine clubs promoted from the Championship would have done so in their first season after being relegated from the Premier League.
“The impact of these payments on the competitive balance of the Championship, and on the sustainability of all other clubs, is a major concern,” EFL chairman Rick Parry said.
Parachute payments could be abolished once a new independent regulator for English soccer is appointed, but that might only exacerbate the growing gulf between the Premier League and Championship.
They were initially designed to minimize the gap between the top two leagues by encouraging promoted clubs to invest enough in their squads to make them competitive.
Yet, the strength in depth of the Premier League means any newcomer has a mountain to climb just to survive.
With just one game of the season to go, UEFA Europa League finalists Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United sit 16th and 17th in the table.
“The longer the teams stay in the Premier League, the better they get,” Leicester head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy said. “If the same 17 teams stay in they are all going to invest massive amounts of money and get better on top of how good they are. It appears the gap will only get bigger.”
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