Sources: Newcastle United battling ‘Big Six’ amid £125m talks twist
Fourteen Premier League clubs – including Newcastle United – remain wholly opposed to the abolition of parachute payments, sources have told Football Insider.
The future of parachute payments has been central to financial talks between the Premier and EFL, with the latter body wanting them scrapped in tandem with a greater cut of top-flight broadcast cash.
The Premier League have now made a formal offer to the EFL which would see around 20 per cent of its annual TV revenue filter down to the lower leagues, a £125m upswing on the current solidarity payment set-up.
But they have refused to budge on parachute payments and there appears to be no resolution in sight.
EFL CEO Rick Parry and his Premier League counterpart Richard Masters emphasised their differing views on parachute payments in front of a Parliamentary select committee earlier this week.
Parry cited studies that show that the financial mechanism has a distorting effect on the Championship, while Masters argued that they are indispensable to the financial health of the pyramid.
The so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs – Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and two Manchester sides – are prepared for the abolition of parachute payments to be part of the discussions.
Perhaps surprisingly, Newcastle – who have tended to vote with the ‘Big Six’ since their takeover in October 2021 – have sided with the league’s other clubs who are not willing to forego their insurance policy.
The blessing of 14 clubs is required before the Premier League introduces new legislation, meaning there is unlikely to be any movement while the dynamic remains as it is.
However, the coming introduction of an independent regulator for English football could change all that given that it is likely to have the power to implement its own financial model.
In other news, Eddie Howe pushing Newcastle United to sign Scott McTominay after Man United reveal.