MILLWALL chief executive Steve Kavanagh believes that clubs like Millwall have to “maximise every ounce” to get close to the richer sides that make up the Championship.
The financial disparity in the league is growing with former Premier League clubs like Leicester City and Southampton increasingly capable of out-spending the Lions.
It means that England’s second-tier, known for it’s unpredictability and randomness, could gradually become more like the Premier League, where money heavily influences league position.
Kavanagh is concerned by the advantages of the “parachute clubs” – relegated Premier League teams who are entitled to financial packages over three years to help soften the blow of losing top-flight income.
Three of the top four in the Championship – Leicester, Leeds United and Southampton – were relegated from the top-flight last season.
Kavanagh told NewsAtDen: “I’ve met with the DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) and these conversations are going on at the highest political levels.
“Football has got to a stage where someone unfortunately has to step in to readdress the balance that has occurred over the years and a situation where parachute clubs now, before you even start, are £50million ahead of you. Our turnover is only £20m so they’re two-and-a-half our turnover before we even turn the lights on. How do you compete with that?
“Well you only compete with that by making The Den a fierce, hostile, positive environment for your team by doing everything you can to maximise every ounce of everything you have about you as a club – that togetherness and that approach that John Berylson installed in us and James is carrying on.
“That’s how you can compete. You can only keep punching that way for so long. Eventually, over a long period of time, those financial numbers will mean that finance will win. It doesn’t mean you can’t compete short-term, Luton proved that last year, but that imbalance is so strong and so heavy that stats now show parachute clubs will get promoted.”
Kavanagh comments come as last week’s King’s Speech revealed that the Government will put forward a bill to create an independent regulator in football that could have powers over financial regulations.
The Millwall CEO is hopeful that it can help readdress the imbalance in football.
He added: “We’re all competing for a place in the play-offs and a shot of getting up and even then you still have to compete with the parachute clubs which make it very difficult.
“So those conversations are ongoing and hopefully we can get the next steps of that shortly. That situation has been ongoing for two years, if not longer, and those arguments have been ongoing for two years. And that’s why the white paper was brought forward and that’s why the Government have backed that. While you can see the Premier League is a fantastic product for this country, it is creating a significant, systemic failing beneath it.”