THE Football League and the Football Association have been lambasted for essentially trebling the parachute payments for clubs relegated into the National League.
Braintree Town chairman Lee Harding has accused the FA – who back the League’s decision as football’s governing body – of trying to destroy the Non-League game by giving two clubs “a free pass” back into League Two.
In an extraordinary tirade, Harding claims FA chairman Greg Dyke cares about nothing outside of the England national team and the Premier League and that the FA have “continually let everyone down”.
The money League Two clubs receive for dropping out of the Football League and into the Conference is now set to soar to a total of nearly £750,000 – nearly half a million up from last year’s offering.
Going on those figures, a relegated club would now be awarded £474,000 in its first season and a further £237,000 in their second year back down.
“Make no mistake, this is an absolute disaster for Non-League football,” fumed long-serving Harding. “It’s a reward for failure – if there is that sort of money to spend on clubs that have failed in their objectives there is money to invest properly at our level, to distribute it fairly around.
“The game and this level is disintegrating and the fault lies at the door of the Football Association.
“The fundamental issue is that the FA have not delivered their promise to protect clubs and spread adequately the billions made in television rights. Yes, this is a Football League matter but the FA govern them and provide backing. It’s thoughtless, careless and is yet another example of their dreadful and short-sighted decision making.
“Greg Dyke cares about just two things. The first is winning the World Cup and the second is winning the World Cup. Once again they have let us all down – the rich are getting richer and the rest of us are left to suffocate.
“What they (the Football League) are looking to do is close the promotion trapdoor. If they can’t do it by failing clubs on ground grading issues then they are going to do it by giving relegated clubs a £500,000 head start to help them get back there.
“They want to make it as difficult as possible for clubs who have come through the ranks of Non-League to get into the Football League. They don’t want us in there, the romance of it will be over.”
A poll conduced by the The NLP on Friday suggested 70 per cent of our readers say the development is damaging for the game.
Harding, whose Braintree side drew 1-1 with Oxford United in the FA Cup on Sunday, added: “It’s not a level playing field anymore – I can tell you now the amount one of these two clubs will make in parachute payments alone is three or four times the size of our playing budget, and many others’ as well.
“What they want is the same two clubs down back up again. The concept of parachute payments is correct, but to give two clubs such a monumental head-start over others at this level of the game is unacceptable.
“It’s great for two clubs, and very bad for the other 22. The two coming down will hold an enormous financial advantage. We get £40,000 from Central Funding for being National League members. They are coming down here with nearly £500,000 in their back pocket plus that £40,000.”
The Football League’s chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “In recent seasons we’ve seen a number of clubs suffer severe financial trauma following relegation and in some cases fold altogether. As a result, it became increasingly clear that we needed to review existing arrangements.”
It is harder for a National League club to get promoted than it is for a Championship club.
A better arrangement would be for 4 clubs to be relegated between League 2 and the National League. Then it wouldn’t feel like such a death sentence to the relegated teams and the situation would be more organic than at present.
Suggest automatic 2 up and 2 down then play-offs comprising 3rd,4th,5th national league and third bottom league 2. teams.
This would be fairer to 2nd National league team (its hard enough to get to second in the league without being
in a position where they have to enter the current play-off lottery) and also offer relegated League 2 teams (if
they prove good enough (which from experience most are not) better odds of returning to league 2 (but only if they are up to it).
It also offers the 3rd bottom League 2 team the chance of not being relegated (but only if they prove they can
prove themselves better than the National League teams in the play-offs. If not then they deserve relegation
.
Agree with Bob regarding two automatically promoted for all the reasons given.
However, I think League 2 would find this is giving too much away seeing it too much a win-win situation for the National League.
I suggest only 3rd bottom play 3rd top for 3rd position in League 2 and this would be an all round fair compromise.
Whether 3 rd top came from final league position or though a play-off system comprising 3 – 4 – 5 & 6th clubs ( ie loss of existing play-off revenues to 4 – 5 -6th clubs verses play-off winner having to play an additional 2 games against 3 rd bottom league 2 club.