Pushing For Promotion

So after a great 0-1 win on the 6th September on Sky Sports against Luton at Kenilworth Road, September took a change for the worse. Going on to lose three of the next four games with only a 2-0 home win against Hartlepool the only points picked up in a dismal few weeks after Luton.

Since then Sheridan and Argyle have gone under the radar quietly creeping up the table picking up five wins out of seven and also progressing through the 1st round of the FA Cup against a tricky Conference North side AFC Fylde.

We now have the best defence in the Football League only conceding 12 goals in the first 17 league fixtures.

That encompassed with Reuben Reid carrying his goal scoring exploits to 9 league goals the confidence is starting to flow out of a free playing progressive Argyle side.

The 3-5-2 formation is putting every opponent to the sword especially at home and that with not only a defence but a whole team who now seem to have had it drummed into them that defending as a team and keeping clean sheets is the mainstay every championship winning team needs to gain promotion I ask myself, Is this the year of true revival after seven years of terrible clueless football with players who don't seem to care ?

I believe that Sheridan now with HIS team is starting to get the best out of a decent group with the help from the correct people is finally paying dividends, Paul Wotton having played 491 games for Argyle as Captain must be doing a lot with the defensive unit that screams organisation of the Coughlan / Wotton partnership of 01/02 season.

Before the season started many questioned the appointment of a young captain selected by Sheridan in Curtis Nelson, At 21 years old Curtis has already picked up 164 appearances since the 2010/11 season he is the only player we've managed to keep who didn't seem to be carrying the scars of succesive relagations on to the turf. The rest are long gone and hopefully we can continue to carry on picking up points whilst tring to get past Sheffield United on the 6th December and be in the 3rd round draw with hope of a money-spinning tie in January.

The last seven league games have seen us score ten and only concede a single goal in a remarkable improvement in our fortunes.

We have six league games before the new year and things are looking good!

Semper Fidelis

Football's Financial Madness

Now the World Cup dust has settled in Brazil, it gives us a little over a month before domestic football returns.

I have been meaning to do a piece on the current state of finances within our football clubs for a while.

What I have found is long what I've suspected that for clubs like my club Plymouth Argyle, the dream of making the promised land of the Premiership are now further away then ever and the chance of ever getting there has never been so unobtainable than they are at the moment.

Unless things are drastically changed in the way money in English football is distributed, then I fear there are many clubs who will never obtain top flight status.

In this piece I will try to tell you why.

Parachute payments are probably one of the most unfair ways of the Premier League to dispense their money from TV rights deals to keep the same group of clubs around the division without much chance of league 1 or 2 clubs even getting to the Championship let alone the top flight.

Never has this been more apparent then it is now. The gulf in money earned in the Premiership to the Championship is massive but the real problem lies in clubs receiving parachute payments after failing in the Premiership, to then being given a massive budget in comparison to other clubs in the Championship.


Below I have broken down the amount Sky Bet Championship clubs will receive, and you will see that in the Championship that no fewer than 10 clubs are receiving different stages of parachute payments from the Premier League and IMO are giving them a massive advantage over the other half of the league receiving the standard solidarity payments of 2.3 million.

This makes it unless you have a miracle manager or a lot of luck just making the playoffs can be any teams best hope of getting promoted.

Keeping this in mind after relegation from the top flight the said clubs will receive 4 years of Parachute payments as detailed below.

Year 1 = 23 Million          Year 2 = 18 Million         Year 3 = 9 Million         Year 4 = 9 Million

I make the various stages of payment for the following 14/15 Sky Bet Championship as the following

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Birmingham = 9
Blackburn Rovers  = 9

Blackpool = 9
Bolton Wanderers = 9
Bournemouth = 2.3
Brentford  = 2.3
Brighton & Hove Albion = 2.3
Cardiff City = 23
Charlton Athletic = 2.3
Derby County = 2.3
Fulham = 23

Reading = 18
Huddersfield Town = 2.3
Ipswich Town = 2.3
Leeds United  = 2.3
Middlesbrough  = 2.3
Millwall  = 2.3

Norwich City  = 23

Nottingham Forest  = 2.3

Rotherham United  = 2.3

Sheffield Wednesday = 2.3
Watford = 2.3

Wigan Athletic = 18

Wolverhampton Wanderers = 9
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 The above figures also don't account for the fact the additional 2.3 million that the clubs in Red receiving parachute payments would also receive. 

And because of the new £5 Billion 3 year TV deal the Premier League signed last year all Premier League clubs have had a massive increase in what the 13/14 season has paid them. 

Cardiff after finishing bottom and being relegated have been awarded 67 Million which is more the Manchester United received for becoming the champions the previous year.

This is not an attack on Cardiff but just shows how clubs who have yet to taste top flight football in the last 4 years are really going to struggle.

Cardiff 

Relegation = 67 Million

Year 1      = 23 Million

Year 2      = 18 Million

Year 3      = 9 Million

Year 4      = 9 Million

                   127 Million

And lets presume that AFC Bournemouth will stay in the Championship for the next 4 without being promoted or relegated.

AFC Bournemouth

Previous Season Payment = 2.3

Year 1      = 2.3 Million

Year 2      = 2.3 Million

Year 3      = 2.3 Million

Year 4      = 2.3 Million

                   11.5 Million

Obviously this doesn't mean that Cardiff will hammer the league but surely this is the most unfair system in the world and considering the 3 relegated clubs will also hold onto half the squad that has played in the Premiership is also giving them the best chance to push for a top 3 finish or by minimum the playoffs

The figures in this article make me feel sick to my stomach and the thought of Plymouth ever getting a crack at it one day have never felt further. 

Semper Fidelis