EFL’s bailout comes with a warning from Paul Warne

Rotherham United manager Paul Warne has welcomed the long-awaited rescue package for Football League (EFL) clubs announced yesterday, but stressed it must not be used to subsidise big transfer fees at clubs continuing to run themselves badly.
The EFL has announced it has agreed a rescue package with the Premier League to help Championship, League One and League Two clubs affected by the coronavirus pandemic. (Picture:Nigel French/PA Wire)The EFL has announced it has agreed a rescue package with the Premier League to help Championship, League One and League Two clubs affected by the coronavirus pandemic. (Picture:Nigel French/PA Wire)
The EFL has announced it has agreed a rescue package with the Premier League to help Championship, League One and League Two clubs affected by the coronavirus pandemic. (Picture:Nigel French/PA Wire)

Ever since the 2019-20 season was postponed and in some cases abandoned because of Covid-19, the Premier League has been under pressure from the Government and many lower down the pyramid fearing extinction to help them pay their running costs without the income of supporters at the gate. The day after the first fans were allowed to trickle back into matches, an agreement was finally reached.

The world’s richest domestic league will give £250m in loans and grants to the 72 Football League clubs. Yorkshire sides in all divisions have welcomed the news, though Warne added a word of caution.

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“For League One and League Two, financial assistance is absolutely imperative,” said Warne, whose club went into the first lockdown a League One club but were promoted to the Championship on a points-per-game basis.

EFL Chairman Rick Parry in the stands before the Sky Bet Championship match at John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield, on Saturday November 28, 2020. (Picture: PA)EFL Chairman Rick Parry in the stands before the Sky Bet Championship match at John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield, on Saturday November 28, 2020. (Picture: PA)
EFL Chairman Rick Parry in the stands before the Sky Bet Championship match at John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield, on Saturday November 28, 2020. (Picture: PA)

“In the Championship, there are some very, very wealthy people (as owners). I don’t want to see a team who have accumulated significant debt prior to Covid-19 using that excuse to get interest-free money to bailout their club and then come January start throwing millions around again.

“However, it is great news that it is happening and I don’t want to see any club fold. But my one caveat on it is that it should be down to Covid costs.”

That same scepticism from the Premier League about poorly-run Championship clubs delayed an agreement, initially offering a package just to Leagues One and Two, which they rejected out of solidarity. Collectively Championship clubs spend more on wages then they receive in income according to the latest figures.

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Teams in that division will be offered interest-free loans worth a combined £200m, potentially £8.3m each, to meet PAYE liabilities up to the end of June 2021.

The remaining £50m will be in grants to clubs in the bottom two divisions. League One sides such as Hull City and Doncaster Rovers will receive £375,000, and Bradford City, Harrogate Town and their League Two counterparts £250,000. The remaining £15m will be distributed according to the amount of gate revenue lost, as calculated by the Football League and Premier League.

Clubs can also apply to a £20m “monitored grant” fund based on “need”. Again, the two leagues will be arbiters.

Doncaster welcomed the news “with cautious optimism as it provides much-needed support and helps to offset the vast amount of income we have lost and continue to lose due to the restrictions in place because of Covid-19.”

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It added: “As a club we are mindful that until we can get fans back in the stadium we have potential refund liabilities in excess of £1m due to supporters and commercial partners. Those would severely impact our ability to operate should they be realised and therefore we will continue to work with all parties to reduce this possibility.”

Tier 2 clubs were allowed limited numbers of fans back into their grounds from Wednesday, but Harrogate are Yorkshire’s only league club in this position. The rest, as Tier 3 clubs, must continue to play home games behind closed doors.

Yesterday the Sulphurites were given permission to allow around 400 to 500 season ticket deposit holders to watch tomorrow’s League Two match at home to Forest Green Rovers as a test event. The maximum number of fans allowed into Tier 2 games is 2,000, irrespective of capacity.

Harrogate and Bradford hope to strengthen their squads in January.

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“Rick Parry has been banging the drum and working hard as the EFL chairman in order to get a package together and I appreciate his hard work,” said Harrogate manager Simon Weaver. “£250,000 is a chunk in the right direction for our coffers and we’re really appreciative.

“We are now looking at players, feeling a bit more confident and assessing where we are.

“We will never reflect badly on the promotion at all, it’s been brilliant, and you do get a financial reward but they weren’t easy conversations when you had to tell people, ‘You’ve done brilliantly, but I can’t really reward you.’ The reward had to be playing at a higher level.

“No one’s really known the full effect of this pandemic and we still don’t know when we’ll be able to get full crowds in so until that point it’s hard to project what sort of budget you’re going to have.”

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Bradford, who earned £30,000 from streaming behind-closed-doors November games, have been gearing up to back manager Stuart McCall in January’s transfer market as his team finds itself at the wrong end of the table.

“At this time, every penny is needed,” he said. “Naturally, it is good news.
We have saved a little bit and we are ready to go into January.

“With people saying that there are clubs who could go to the wall, it helps them and it can help everyone.”

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