Championship Clubs Spend More Than They Earn

Championship clubs` operating results worsened for the sixth consecutive year, to a record loss of £133m. 14 Championship clubs lost £5m or more at an operating level as opposed to 12 clubs in 2008/09 - in comparison only three clubs reported pre-tax profits.

With the money coming in from the new TV agreement dropping it is going to be harder for clubs to keep up with their expenditure on such as players and staff wages and costs in general.

"The Football League has calculated that over 80% of player contracts will have expired before the new TV deals start, which gives clubs time to reduce their cost base. However, financial history does not bode well. The League will be keen to encourage its members towards consensual solutions to assist with financial responsibility and stability for the well-being of the competition and its member clubs."

This is a problem that looks like it will worsen over the next year or so as players will be looking for the best deals available to them.

It is also a fact that generally automatic promotion to the premiership goes in the main to a club in the top six of the league in players wages costs.

With Southampton in safe hands at the moment I don't see the need for us Saints fans to worry over much as of yet.

However it is something that is now being discussed at some length by the Football League and new regulations are being prepared to govern the amount that clubs can spend in relation to the amount of revenue that a club collects.

With the clubs themselves voting to look at the way forward this will hopefully soon be a problem of the past. If it isn't checked the spending will send more clubs to the wall and some may never recover.

I am glad that we received the backing of our saviour when we did but do fear for the future of our game if something doesn't happen soon to ease the spending. Clubs with a benevolent back may feel safe but prices can only drop to a more realistic level once the regulations have been put in place in my opinion.

For one, I hope that it doesn't happen to late for some of the clubs currently struggling to make ends meet.

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