'They care about Leeds v West Brom' – Simon Jordan makes EFL claim as Leeds home in on promotion

Dave is a huge Leeds fan and ardent disciple of Bielsa ball. A career in print magazines that included editing PC Zone, launching PokerPlayer and redesigning The Big Issue has finally led Dave to writing about the love of his life, Leeds United. It’s been a tough 2020 but the single scariest moment was the first quarter of the game against Man City. Rodrigo will be the saviour this season.

Published on:

04 Mar 2020, 3:53 am

Simon Jordan has criticised the EFL and made an impassioned plea for the Championship to take charge of its own financial destiny on talkSPORT on Wednesday.

The EFL agreed a new five-year TV deal worth £595m in 2018 but Championship clubs including Leeds were desperately unhappy about it.

The BBC reported that clubs had "grave concerns" over the deal, which was dwarfed by the £4.55bn Sky and BT paid for Premier League rights.

Jordan claimed that the EFL isn't giving clubs like Leeds and West Brom what they're worth and that Sky Sports don't care about teams in lower leagues.

Talking on the Jim White Show (talkSPORT, Tuesday, 10am), Jordan said that the Championship had to assert its own rights without turning its back on the Football League.

He said that Championship clubs were unraveling financially while not getting what they were worth from the EFL.

He said Sky wouldn't care about a game between two League One clubs... "But they would care about Leeds v West Brom."

"The Championship has to be empowered and stop pandering to the clubs in League 1 and 2," Jordan added. "It’s all about money.

"The Premier League doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Championship, despite the fact that it takes three teams each season and hands three teams back. The Premier League is strangling it all.

"The Championship doesn't have to be a Premier League and say stuff League 1 and League 2.

"But it has to be able to negotiate properly with Sky and with the Premier League."

The big hope for Leeds is that this won't be a problem next season.

But you only have to look at the disparity between teams in the Premier League and the Championship to know something is very wrong with the EFL deal.

Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow said at a recent Supporters' Trust meeting, "Norwich get £100m, Leeds get £3m – and Leeds appear more times and get more viewers. Who thinks that's fair?"

#avfc CEO Christian Purslow describes the gap between the Premier League and EFL TV rights as a “monstrous precipice”.

He adds “#ncfc get £100m, #lufc get £3m - and Leeds appear more times and get more viewers. Who thinks that’s fair?”

Only Delia Smith! Mr Purslow backs a #PL2
— Jonny Gould (@jonnygould) February 18, 2020

Premier League sides that get relegated get parachute payments which skew the landscape in the Championship even further and make it that much harder for existing teams to get promoted.

Leeds fans have often said that they are the EFL's cash cow and that the EFL wouldn't want to see them get promoted.

Hopefully, this is the season Leeds finally break free and move into a league where they're more fairly rewarded for what they contribute.

In other Leeds United news, 'Another tactic to stop Leeds getting promoted' – Many fans react to Graham Smyth EFL update

Leeds United

Simon Jordan