Premier League to debate new EFL settlement as regulator looms

The Premier League is drawing up plans to present its clubs with fresh proposals for a financial settlement with the English Football League (EFL) as soon as next month.

Sky News has learnt that a meeting of the top flight's shareholders on 22 November is expected to include a discussion on a range of new offers to be made to the rest of the professional football pyramid.

The meeting will take place a month after the government introduced legislation paving the way for the creation of an independent football regulator that will have the power to impose a far-reaching financial deal on the sport.

Insiders said that the Premier League had drafted in a heavyweight team of consultants, including Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Lord Mandelson, to advise it on issues including the new regulator.

One cautioned that the formal agenda for the 22 November meeting had yet to be finalised.

However, several club executives said they expected it to be featured amid growing demand from some Premier League shareholders to present a revised deal to the EFL board, chaired by Rick Parry.

"Getting a deal done now that the EFL accepts would offer a five-year fix, which means it is resolved for the medium term and out of the regulator's reach," said an executive at one top-flight club.

"A sensible deal is more likely to get support from 14 clubs [the requisite majority] now," they added.

Protracted discussions at the Premier League about an £836m agreement to distribute a proportion of commercial income to the Championship, League One and League Two ground to a halt in March because of a stalemate between its clubs.

The 20 top-flight clubs, which include Aston Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, had for more than a year thrashed out several versions of a 'New Deal' that included proposals for an increased levy on player transfers.

The most recent blueprint, which was never formally presented to the EFL, included provision for an immediate £44m payment to the lower leagues, followed by a further £44m within months.

This £88m, however, would have been pitched as a loan that would be repayable by the EFL over a period of more than six years.

The Premier League had decided to make the vote independent of any conditions attached to wider financial reform of English football, alarming a number of top-flight owners.

At one point in the autumn of 2023, a £925m agreement looked to be close.

Last December, however, Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, notified clubs that it was calling a temporary halt to talks with the EFL because of internal divisions about the scale and structure of the proposed deal.

Next month's meeting has been scheduled to address many of the urgent issues facing the elite of English football, including prospective amendments to rules on associated party transactions following Manchester City's recent arbitration proceedings.

Both the Premier League and its current champions claimed victory from the ruling, deepening the sense of civil war engulfing English football's top flight.

Allegations that Manchester City committed 115 breaches of Premier League financial rules are being heard in a separate case, which remains ongoing.

Changes to the treatment of shareholder loans to clubs, which would affect a significant number of Premier League sides, will also be discussed next month.

The Premier League declined to comment on Saturday.

(c) Sky News 2024: Premier League to debate new EFL settlement as regulator looms