Rather exaggerated figures are sometimes placed on the Championship play off. They sometimes seem to be based on the team going up coming top and also collecting four years of parachute payments in one go. Nevertheless, for a team that goes up and survives, they can hope for a boost of at least £45m.
Rather exaggerated figures are sometimes placed on the Championship play off. They sometimes seem to be based on the team going up coming top and also collecting four years of parachute payments in one go. Nevertheless, for a team that goes up and survives, they can hope for a boost of at least £45m.
For West Ham the outcome of today’s match is particularly important. Blackpool would like to go up just as much and, if they did, they might make a more serious effort to stay up in terms of buying players, particularly defenders, than they did last time. But for their fans it is more something to be enjoyed rather than key to the future of the club.
When David Sullivan and David Gold took on West Ham the club had liabilities of £110m. They are now down to below £90m. The owners had to inject £35m into the club to cover the cost of being relegated and debt payments. They are prepared to put the same amount in next season.
But David Sullivan told The Times yesterday, ‘We can’t afford to indefinitely put money in. If we are in the Championship this time next year we need to make major economies. It is vital that we go up on Saturday or next season.’ The Football League’s fair play rules will increasingly constrain what they can do.
West Ham certainly have a big fan base. No less than 100,000 supporters visited Upton Park this season which just shows how much churn there is in who is attending just within one season at football clubs.
It is more than possible that the manager of the losing club will not be in his job when the new season starts.