Will shortened Premier League parachute payments hit hard?

No club wants to be relegated from the Premier League and this week we heard news that there is an even bigger reason for teams to keep away from the dreaded bottom three, as the Guardian revealed that the period for payments being made for relegated clubs will be shortened from next season. While it is always a source of annoyance for Championship clubs to have to compete against fallen Premier League clubs with their extra cash to help them restructure in the lower league, it has now been decided that from the 2016-17 season, when the new TV deal comes in, relegated Premier sides who have just come up in 2014-15 will will miss out on a year of payments if they go straight back down.

It will be a steep fall for the clubs that slip out of the
Premier League in 2015-16. Fingers crossed it won't be AFCB among them.

This could have big implications for how money is spent on transfers this season for AFCB, Norwich and Watford. We have not seen any big transfer fees paid out from the Cherries yet and while the wages are hopefully also being kept a close eye on we might not see the new Premier League clubs splashing the cash in a big way to compete with the existing Premier League teams. Hull, QPR and Burnley will still receive £64 million each split over the next four years - £24m, £19.3, £9.6m and £9.6m.

In the 2016-17 season those parachute payments are expected to rise though from what is currently being offered so will teams that get relegated be worse off? I think it will just encourage them to be more careful with what they payout in terms of wages and transfer fees and with what they pay in the Championship. Shorter contracts might also be signed to allow restructuring of wages when clubs are relegated. I wonder though should some funds also come off the top clubs as well? I can understand the need to reward successful teams but is it also another way of stopping smaller sides from climbing the ladder and upsetting the status quo of the top clubs that continue to get richer? I'm all for distributing more of the Premier League revenue but this should this not be evenly spread across all 20 clubs?

It does make me think that perhaps the leading clubs have more reason to be happy with this agreement than those that have recently joined the Premier League. There is already more than one tier within the top league and this may just make it even harder for yo-yo clubs to try and make the transition to a club that manages to stay year after year in the Premier League.

Finally, Crystal Palace have announced that their U21 side will play AFCB's Development Squad on Tuesday 4 August - time and venue to be confirmed.