Change is needed but the last thing football needs is another split - Stuart Rayner

This long period without football and the problems it is exposing are a real opportunity to rethink the structures around the game because the system is not working as well as it should, with Championship finances an absolute mess. Change is necessary and very possible, the question is how best to change.

Former sports minister Damian Collins’s plan to use a bailout to move towards a more German-style of boardroom, where fans and/or the community are represented is the latest of many ideas put forward during lockdown. There has been talk about regionalising the lower leagues, merging League Two with the National League, scrapping parachute payments and Championship sides joining the Premier League.

Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani has been a high-profile fan of the last idea for some time.

That Premier League and Championship clubs are trying to play through the pandemic whilst League Two clubs have thrown the towel in and League One, for all the resistance of a few Championship-wannabes, look set to do likewise perhaps shows where English football’s real faultline now sits. Its yo-yo clubs are ones like Rotherham United and Barnsley bobbing between the second and third tier.

Absorbing the Championship into the Premier League would not bridge the gaping chasm in football’s finances, just push it down further. It would go some way to solving 24 clubs’ financial problems by increasing those of the 47 below.

While rugby league quickly received an emergency £16m Government loan, football has had no such support yet, something Collins and Sunderland shareholder Charlie Methven hope to address. One reason there has been no rush to bailout football is the perception it has enough money to look after itself. That is probably correct, but only if it is shared out.

Early in the crisis the Premier League gave £125m to clubs down the pyramid. Thank goodness it did, but it was only money due in August being advanced. The vast majority will go to former Premier League clubs such as Huddersfield Town, not the likes of Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City.

It is ironic that in his new job as Football League chairman, Rick Parry is one of those fighting for a more even distribution of cash because as its founding chief executive, he was one of the Premier League’s key architects. For all the guff the clubs came out with at the time about helping the England team, the point of it was to give those who did most to generate the cash a larger share.

What sort of television deal could the Football League hope to strike if another 24 of its biggest clubs left?

First and foremost, resuming the 2019-20 Premier League season is about protecting £762m of investment in football by TV companies, or as much as can be salvaged. That money keeps the game going and its employees – not just the highly-paid superstar footballers but the unseen staff members – in work.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has spoken about the need for the Premier League to get up and running again to “help release resources through the rest of the system” but nothing has been said about increasing the flow. Hard and fast details are difficult to come by until we know what we are dealing with, but there has not been so much as a murmur to encourage supporters wondering if their club will be here next season.

Just as coronavirus has brought out the best in some community-minded clubs and players, so it has brought out the uglier side in others, ignoring the good of the game to fight for their self-interest.

Now more than ever, football needs to work together, not draw another dividing line.

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