Ridsdale Warns That English Football Is Over

 Preston club president Peter Ridsdale warned of what he described as the end of English football if the Championship loses the ability to compete and be sustainable, criticizing the English Premier League for not submitting a financial offer. The British News Agency quoted sources in the English Premier League as saying that the focus at the last meeting, which was held the day before yesterday, Monday, was on agreeing on new financial regulations for the English Premier League, rather than on submitting a financial offer to the First Division League. Ridsdale, a member of the Board of Directors of the English First Division League, said on BBC Radio 5: “We have assured the English Premier League that we will recommend approval of any financial offer, but we have not received this offer, which we were informed would be submitted since last September.” Last January, the President of the English Premier League, Rick Barry, revealed the features of the deal, which has not yet been completed, which is to obtain 14.75% of the English Premier League’s television broadcast revenues, worth 900 million pounds ($1.2 billion), distributed over six years. But this offer did not enter into force in light of reports that 10 clubs objected to this deal. Ridsdale pointed out, "All we want is to have a competitive and sustainable league. The team that is relegated from the English Premier League to the first division gets 50 million pounds sterling in the first season and then 40 million pounds sterling in the second season." He also stated, "The top clubs in the First Division pay wages equivalent to 5 times what Preston FC spends, because they benefit from the financial payment after their relegation from the Premier League." He concluded his statements in this regard: “The leading clubs, Leicester City, Leeds United, Ipswich, and Southampton, three of which were relegated from the Premier League last season and received large sums of money, and if we do not maintain competitiveness and sustainability, English football will end.”