EFL confirm talks with Premier sides over Project Big Picture but Government slam 'backroom deals' that would change Leeds United landscape

A 'Revitalisation' document authored by Liverpool’s owners the Fenway Sports Group suggests a reduction in the Premier League to 18 teams with greater power given to the division's 'big six' and the scrapping of the League Cup and Community Shield.

The plan already has the support of Manchester United with the other clubs in the 'big six' - Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur - expected to follow suit in giving the proposals their backing.

The plan would see 25 per cent of the Premier League's annual income go to EFL clubs, providing the EFL with a £250 million rescue package in the country's ongoing battle against coronavirus whilst the FA would receive a one-off £100m payment to cover losses, as well as to help fund non-league, women's and the grassroots structure.

The Premier League have said a number of proposals outlined in the Project Big Picture plan could have a damaging impact on the whole game while the Government say they are 'surprised and disappointed that a time of crisis there appear to be backroom deals being cooked up that would create a closed shop at the very top of the game.'

But the EFL has confirmed that it has been working on ‘Project Big Picture’ with a number of clubs in the Premier League that looks to reset the economics and governance across the English football pyramid and in the process, protect the game in both the short and long term.

EFL chair Rick Parry said: "The need for a complete rethinking regarding the funding of English professional football predates the Covid-19 crisis.

"Discussion and planning around ‘Project Big Picture’ has been ongoing for quite some time, unrelated to the current pandemic but now has an urgency that simply cannot be denied.

“The revenues flowing from the investment and work of our top clubs has been largely limited to the top division creating a sort of lottery, while Championship clubs struggle to behave prudently and Leagues One and Two are financially stretched despite enormous revenues English football generates.

"This plan devised by our top clubs and the English Football League puts an end to all of that.

“The gap between the Premier League and the English Football League has become a chasm which has become unbridgeable for Clubs transitioning between the EFL and Premier League. In 2018/19, Championship clubs received £146 million in EFL distributions and Premier League solidarity payments.

"This compares with £1.58 billion received by the bottom 14 Premier League clubs - 11 times as much.

“At the same time, Parachute Payments received by the eight recently relegated clubs totalled £246 million.

"This represents one-third of the total Championship turnover and creates a major distortion that impacts the League annually.

“In an effort to achieve promotion from very small media monies in the Championship to extraordinary sums at the bottom of the Premier League, Championship clubs spent 107% of their income on wages last season, a figure that is unsustainable by any analysis but by no means a new phenomenon.

"The figure has been 99% or above in each of the last four seasons. Consequently, our Clubs incurred operating losses of £382 million last season.

“In the last 12 months, owners have had to inject some £384 million in capital – all before a pandemic created the current financial crisis and impacted Clubs, alongside many of the businesses that help fund them.

“Project Big Picture takes a huge step by sharing 25% of Premier League media net revenues with the EFL in order to correct this imbalance going forward.

"Coupled with the introduction of strict cost controls, Clubs at every level of the EFL will become properly sustainable even in the face of a major crisis – and more importantly – beyond.

“Just as importantly, the financial gap between the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship will be substantially reduced.

"This will create a much softer landing for relegated clubs. The elimination of Parachute Payments will create fairer competition and discourage irrational behaviour.

“The creation of a short-term rescue fund of £250 million to replace lost match day revenue this season and last will enable every Club to plan to continue to play and move forward with certainty.

"As an advance against increased, future revenues this is not a loan and therefore does not need to be repaid. It could never have been repaid under the existing terms and revenue of the English pyramid.

“Now is the time to address both the long-term health of the game and the most challenging short-term crisis it has ever faced.

"Project Big Picture provides a new beginning which will revitalise the football pyramid at all levels.

"This new beginning will reinvigorate clubs in the lower leagues and the communities in which they are based.

“The whole of English football has been negatively impacted by this pandemic and the English football pyramid as a whole is only as healthy as those at its base. Through this proposed restructuring we aim to strengthen those who need it most at a time when they need it most.

"This is about building on what is good and making the most of what works well in order to benefit the game as a whole, while simultaneously tackling those issues which trouble all of us. This is a blueprint for the future of English football and for everyone who cherishes it.”

Project Big Picture suggests would have three teams relegated from an 18-team Premier League with three promoted but with the 16th-placed team in the Premier League going into a play-offs system against the sides that finished third, fourth and fifth in the Championship with the top two still automatically promoted.

The League Cup would be either scrapped or no longer feature the teams in Europe whilst the future of the Community Shield would also be up for debate.

The ‘one-club, one-vote’ principle, which currently sees every Premier League side get an equal say in proceedings, would also go along with the minimum threshold of 14 votes to pass regulation changes.

The nine clubs who have been in the country’s top flight for the longest would then have the power to dictate how the competition is run - the big six plus Everton, Southampton and West Ham - with six votes needed to change a rule.

Changes to the loan system would also allow clubs to send out 15 players on loan domestically.

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Thank you Laura Collins