New parachute payments will stop clubs following in Blackpool's steps

The Seasiders, who started the campaign as favourites to be relegated from the Championship, offered hope to every ambitious club in the land by clinching a place among the elite via a thrilling play-off final win at Wembley.

Burnley's return to the top flight 12 months earlier after an absence of 33 years had been a notable achievement and a welcome hark back to a more innocent age.

But, with due respect to the Clarets, Blackpool's own success was even more remarkable, coming as it did at a club with even smaller resources and whose Bloomfield Road home could hold less than 10,000 fans at the start of last season.

John Ryan, one of football's unashamed romantics, admits to being heartened by the success of Ian Holloway's side last term.

But the Doncaster Rovers chairman is also at pains to point out that a proposal being voted on today at the Football League's extraordinary general meeting could lead to similarly heartening tales being impossible in the future.

Ryan believes the plan to increase the parachute payments to clubs relegated from the Premier League from 32m over two years to 48.4m over four years, which was agreed in principle last May but must be ratified by member clubs today, will lead to a two-tier Championship.

He said: "I don't agree with it but, in reality, money talks so it will be passed. All this will do is distort the Championship in years to come, and that is why this year is a great opportunity for clubs like ourselves.

"Put it this way, I don't think there will be too many Blackpools coming through once this money kicks in.

"If a club is getting 17m in the first year and 48m in total, the rest are going to struggle to compete. I see this as a real shame as the Championship is one of the most competitive leagues around.

"Money is always welcome, of course, but we all know in reality that it goes straight to the players. So, the clubs will not benefit."

The proposed new deal will see the Premier League use its new 3.1bn television contract for the next three seasons to pay increased parachute payments to relegated clubs and an additional 58.5m to the other Football League clubs.

Providing it is rubber-stamped today, any relegated club will be paid 17.5m in the first year with a further 14.5m being due 12 months later. The remaining 16.4m will then be paid over the final two years – unless the club is promoted back to the top flight in the mean-time, as then all payments will stop.

For sides such as Hull City, the increase may well prove to be a lifeline – even allowing for the news this week that the Premier League are considering withholding a large proportion of the 9m initial payment, which is due on Friday, in order to instead pay direct any clubs still owed transfer fees by the Tigers. City's head of football operations Adam Pearson said: "Increasing the parachute payments can only be seen as a good thing.

"Of course, if people had planned properly on the way up then an increase would not be as desperately needed as it is.

"But we have all seen what can happen to clubs relegated from the Premier League so this has to be a positive step."

One man who appreciates more than most the difficulties that a side newly-demoted from the top flight can face is Julian Rhodes, the joint-chairman of Bradford City.

The Bantams slipped out of the Premier League in 2001 amid eye-watering debts that, within a year, had seen the club placed in administration.

Rhodes, who was a director at the time, said: "We received two payments of 5m off the Premier League after being relegated, but it didn't make any difference.

"I am sure the kind of money available now under this deal would have kept Bradford City out of administration.

"In that respect, this new deal has to be good news – especially for someone like Hull City, who will not have budgeted for the increase due to the offer only being made earlier this year."

The proposals from the Premier League were accepted in principle by the Football League clubs in May, though 27 did vote against.

Some of the dissenters were concerned that the disparity in payments – split 80 per cent Championship, 12 per cent League One and eight per cent League Two – could skew competition across the entire League.

Rotherham United chairman Tony Stewart said: "The payments are described as solidarity, but I see them more as compensation for beaming live Premier League games into places such as Rotherham, Leeds and Sheffield that take fans away from the local clubs.

"Instead of going to watch the local Football League team, many choose to follow Manchester United or Chelsea through their television and that is why I see this as more of a compensation issue.

"When you take that into account, I see the split as being unfair – especially as the Championship does not account for 80 per cent of the League's total attendances."

To illustrate Stewart's point, a look at last season's attendance figures shows 9.9m of the 17.1m fans who came through the turnstiles in the Football League did so to watch Championship games. League One fixtures were watched by 5m and League Two around 2.2m.

Stewart added: "Under the new system, I estimate Rotherham United will be around 50,000 better off.

"But there should be a fairer rate of distribution. The upshot is many of us in Leagues One and Two feel disadvantaged."

Rhodes, who like Stewart is in charge of a League Two club, has a rather different view, however, and believes the new solidarity payments represent a fair deal for all.

The Bradford joint-chairman said: "I know clubs in Leagues One and Two are not, generally, happy that the Championship gets most of the money.

"But it is the top league that people want to watch on television, hence they probably deserve the lion's share of the money that is basically coming in from that source.

"I believe the deal is good for all the league, as it is more than we have had before and that can only help keep all the professional clubs alive.

"Which, after all, has to be the priority."

Adam Pearson - Hull City:"We have all seen what can happen to clubs relegated from the Premier League so this has to be a positive step."

John Ryan - Doncaster Rovers:"I really don't think there will be too many sides like Blackpool coming through for promotion once this money kicks in."

Julian Rhodes - Bradford City:"The kind of money now under this deal would have kept Bradford City out of administration back in 2002."

Tony Stewart - Rotherham United: "Many down here in League One and League Two feel disadvantaged but Rotherham will be around 50,000 better off."