SURELY it is time for Prem clubs to have compulsory 50 per cent relegation pay-cut clauses in ALL player contracts.
What has happened to Leicester is a compelling case study in support of why this should become a reality.
The financial disparity between the top flight and Championship is too huge.
It is true that after living the dream by winning the Premier League in 2016, Leicester overspent and took financial risks in a bid to compete with the big boys.
But I have sympathy for the Foxes and other clubs that have tried to break through that glass ceiling.
Under our current model, to stand any chance of being able to stand toe to toe with the elite – and compete in Europe – you must spend.
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We all want the top flight to become more competitive and exciting to make it truly the best division in world football.
It is so boring to see Liverpool, Manchester City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea in particular dominate – and that is why that incredible season, when Jamie Vardy and Co upset the apple cart with title glory, was so special.
Blackburn are the only other team alongside Leicester outside those five who have won the top flight since Everton in 1987 – and their 1995 success was bankrolled by Jack Walker.
Four years later, Rovers were relegated and despite another 11-year spell in the Prem and achieving a couple of sixth-placed finishes, they never got close to those heights again.
They have been out of the top flight for 11 years and even had a season in League One.
It is ironic both Blackburn and Leicester this morning are sitting 22nd and 21st in the Championship.
The Foxes not only won the Prem though, they also lifted the FA Cup for the first time, played in the Champions League, had two seasons in the Europa League and reached the semi-final of the Conference League.
If you had offered any of their fans that success 15 years ago, but with the disclaimer it came with a period of struggle afterwards, I’d wager a huge majority of them would have bitten your hand off.
Leicester’s wage bill may well have been high as they tried to compete for European football – yet, even then, it was dwarfed by the elite.
But the Foxes had become complacent by not inserting relegation wage-cut clauses in some of their high-earning stars’ contracts when they went down in 2023.
This resulted in them paying £107million in salaries during their Championship-winning 2023-24 season – dwarfing the other relegated clubs: Leeds (£84m) and Southampton (£80m).
That is the highest amount ever spent on wages in the second tier, where the average that season was £29m.
The problem with pay-cut clauses is they are not mandatory.
So if a club like Leicester are in competition for a player with another team not demanding such a condition, they will miss out.
If it was compulsory for all clubs, it would sort that issue out if a team went down.
Let’s face it, relegation is a fear for every team outside those big five – even the likes of Aston Villa and Tottenham are not infallible.
Had Villa not gone up in 2019, the club would have been in a very perilous position.
They would almost certainly have gone into administration and faced a points rap for also breaking EFL financial rules.
And had it not been for promoted teams Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich being so shocking last season, Spurs would have dropped for the first time since 1977.
The argument against making relegation pay cuts compulsory in Prem deals is clubs do not need babysitting – as that kills freedom to make your own business calls and take risks.
But that point is blown out of the water because top flight and EFL clubs operate under strict spending regulations now.
If these rules were in place in the early to mid-1990s, I wonder if Rovers would have been able to do what they did.
The problem for clubs is trying to show ambition but knowing if it goes wrong, they are in deep trouble.
It’s a difficult balancing act.
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