Charlton Athletic shareholder Charlie Methven has now criticised Crystal Palace for holding the EFL back.
It was announced that the Premier League will be shaking up the profit and sustainability rules on Monday, as three top-division teams currently have active cases.
This includes discussions between Premier League clubs over the new EFL funding system which is vital to the survival of so many lower league clubs.
It now seems an agreement wasn’t reached though, with that meeting not ending in a resolution over a new deal for EFL funding which has left members of the EFL furious.
Now, Charlton’s shareholder Charlie Methven has shared his view on the situation.
Crystal Palace criticised for holding back the EFL
Talking with talkSPORT – as per Edmund Brack for London News – on Tuesday, Methven was outraged by Crystal Palace as he explained that the EFL had been promised a new comprehensive offer which is yet to arrive.
For this, Methven points the blame at the ‘minority of clubs’ and in particular “a few Premier League clubs who are holding the entire industry back and are driving the rest of the industry mad because all they’re thinking of is their own short-term, narrow self-interest. Frankly, everything else is just noise.”
When asked to specify, Methven then named Palace and West Ham as the two holding the EFL back.
“It’s on record that West Ham and Palace are leaders of this King Canute style movement to try and prevent the industry moving forward. It’s not yet a matter of public record of which clubs they’ve persuaded to join them to be in their corner.
“If you speak to executives from other clubs in the Premier League, they are almost as frustrated as we are by this. They know because they see a bigger strategic vision of what will happen with the new government public regulator.
“It’s probably more likely to end up with a scenario they all dread, which is a comprehensive reformation of the parachute payments, which would make a difference to these guys.
“I would ask them to grow up and remember that these clubs, the clubs they run, were very recently Football League club members. The fact that in a game of musical chairs, they are currently sat in the seats that they’re currently sat, doesn’t mean that at some point their clubs won’t be back in the Football League and in a position where an equitable distribution of English football’s total revenue would actually be an extremely welcome thing for them.”
What should Crystal Palace do?
Lower league football is a pivotal part of this country which makes the funding coming down through the leagues from the top vital.
If this is true it’s a bad look for the club and one few fans will agree with. Despite a long current spell in the top league, Palace have spent several of these years in trouble and teetering on the edge of the drop.
Palace must agree to a deal which benefits all, as we don’t know when it could be the Eagles it’s benefitting if relegation does come at some point.
