View: EFL chairman dishes out worrying news for West Brom’s ‘Evil’ parachute payments
West Brom are one of a number of clubs in the Championship who are currently receiving parachute payments from their relegation from the Premier League in 2018.
After finishing bottom of the league in 2017/18, the Baggies pocketed £40million in their first season in the Championship, £35million this season and, if they do not win promotion this term, a final payment of £15million will be made to them.
It has helped Albion remain a top side in the second-tier as they finished fourth last season and are currently second and on course to win promotion back into the top-flight.
However the parachute payment model is something that has attracted a lot of criticism from those Championship clubs who do not receive them and it seems that EFL chairman Rick Parry is open to abolishing them.
As quoted by The Times, Parry told MPs on Tuesday: “There is a need for a reset, it’s overdue and it’s necessary. We need a rescue package and we need to address the longer term otherwise we will be back into problems in two to three years.
“Parachute payments are an evil that needs to be eradicated. We have six clubs in the Championship receiving parachute payments giving them an average of £40 million per club, the other 18 clubs get £4.5 million each so they are then struggling to try to keep up.
“There is strong opposition to them in the EFL, that’s almost a given, apart from the clubs receiving them.
“If we didn’t have a chasm [between the Premier League and the Championship] in the first place you wouldn’t need the parachute payments, you could have a much fairer distribution system.”
While we agree that the financial gulf between the Premier League and the Championship is way too big, is scrapping parachute payments the best course of action?
It will certainly make West Brom re-think their financial strategy if they win promotion this season.
In the summer before Albion’s relegation, the club’s net spend was £37.25million as they splashed out on the likes of Jay Rodriguez, Oliver Burke and Kieran Gibbs.
Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew also bumped up the club’s wage bill with the loan signings of Grzegorz Krychowiak and Daniel Sturridge.
When Mark Jenkins returned to The Hawthorns as chief executive in March 2018, just weeks before the Baggies’ relegation was confirmed, he went as far to admit that “there is no more money for wages“, adding that he was “shocked” by certain behind-the-scenes decisions.
Jenkins did attract criticism from West Brom fans during his first year back at The Hawthorns but there has been nothing but praise lately with the chief executive helping to stabilise Albion’s finances and build a squad capable of promotion at the same time.
But we all know what a shrewd spender Jenkins can be and if parachute payments are scrapped, that could lead to Albion not being as ready to splash the cash in the Premier League as they once were.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips admits Albion could release this senior defender when his contract expires.
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