Leeds United mailbox: Imbalance of the Championship money pit growing, Elland Road season ticket cap annoying - but right

The growing imbalance of the Championship money pit

I saw your share on Twitter about the Derby chairman possibly selling the club if they don't go up, and your comment that the EFL Championship is a money pit.

In essence I wholly agree and I look suspiciously at the dispersion of EPL parachute payments. For example, Hull will have gleaned nearly £101m from two relegation's over four seasons. Aston Villa will glean around £90m over three seasons, Stoke will potentially earn more over time and with the prospect of relatively prudent clubs like Fulham, Cardiff and Huddersfield coming down, they will benefit in some form.

Newcastle are the only team who have really made the most of their one-season £40m bonanza as they bounced straight back to the EPL and have thus far stayed up. On the flip side, Sunderland are swanning around in League One. Money obviously doesn’t secure success but in most cases it can help make a team competitive in the short term (depending on the players they can attract).

I take an interest in this because in my extended family we have Portsmouth and Luton fans, of which I expect one and possibly both will come up this season. Teams who come up from League One are generally struggling and noticeably so in the last three seasons.

The Championship is becoming a very cut-throat environment and I think the gulf between the bottom of the Championship and the top of League One may well be greater than the gulf between the EPL and the Championship. If you dig deeper into the clubs who yo-yo between the Championship and League One, it deepens my conjecture.

The current parachute payment distribution was changed with effect from the end of the 2015-16 season to a share of EPL broadcast funds diminishing over 3 seasons. It works out at around £90m currently. Look at the list of teams who’ve been promoted to the Championship since this change and it’s noticeable that all but one are in the bottom half of the Championship or back in League One. Some have gone down and come back up:

2015-16

Wigan (the first of two promotions, got relegated in 2016/17)

Burton Albion (now mid-table League One).

Barnsley (now back in League One)

2016-17

Sheffield United (the obvious exception to the rule, they have thrived)

Bolton (now 23rd)

Millwall (Had a slow start last season before hitting a run but now sit dangerously close to the Championship’s relegation zone)

2017-18

Wigan (may well stay up but sit lower mid-table)

Blackburn (They sit comfortably mid table, probably only went down due to mismanagement and were only away for one year)

Rotherham (third bottom, scrapping to stay up)

Only Sheffield United stand out from that list as a success so in the end it seems that the Championship is a much harder prospect for teams now promoted from League One than it was before the parachute payment change (in the three years previous, Wolves and Bournemouth came up and now sit in the EPL. Bristol City have been in the play-off positions and Brentford and Preston have been fairly comfortable).

It makes me wonder how long it will be before established Championship clubs begin to struggle to compete, and if this has a bearing on Mel Morris' thinking at Derby?

Piet Baird

Season ticket cap is frustrating - but it's hard to not agree

I am one of those frustrated by the cap on season tickets.

I had genuinely intended to purchase a couple in December, but found the offer closed on the very day that I went to buy.

However, I fully support the decision, since it makes absolute business sense. With 22,000 season tickets, Elland Road is now two thirds full for home support.

I would guess that the final 12,000 tickets are sold to a pool of around 30,000 fans (maybe more). What’s the point of excluding the majority of them from the ground? This will include many who cannot make the full financial commitment, but will support the club on an occasional match day, whilst also buying replica kits and the like.

In addition, there’s sure to be many children in this number; the future life blood of the club.

If we ever want a bigger ground, filled with 45,000 - 50,000 fans, now isn’t the time to cap the support.

Malcolm Greaves

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