The cost of chasing the dream.

Closer to home, Dean Hoyle ploughed £60m of his own money into Town over a few years to get them into the PL, the land of milk and honey. He was one of the lucky ones who achieved that and got most of his money back. Most Championship owners aren't as fortunate.

ML once said that it was Hoyle's experience that led him to acknowledge that the club needed new owners with more money to take it forward. And then he sold out to R&R!

 

The EFL has tried to tighten the type of FFP regime used in the Championship over recent years but without success. Annual losses are even anticipated in the 'Sustainabilty and Profitabiluty' regime as it's known which allows clubs to make continual losses of upto £13m per season so long as the owner 'promises' to make good that level of loss so that the loss is reduced to only £5m per season! It's madness! What other sector would allow businesses to continually make losses in perpetuity? It just goes to demonstrate that deep pockets are fundamental to success in the Championship ... until the point at which the owners become bored and pull the financial plug.

 

The Championship's version of FFP mirrors the regime in the EPL and imo relates to the Championship club's inflated view of themselves that they are simply PL-lite and should copy what the PL does They're sadly mistaken since for most Championship clubs, they have little chance of ever getting established in the PL.

Personally speaking, I'd prefer to see a salary cap in the Championship as we have in the rest of the EFL. That of course doesn't stop wealthy owners subsidising their clubs but reduces its likelihood. Having said that, I recognise that getting sufficient Championship clubs (and the likes of the PFA) to agree to a salary cap is unlikely. And I doubt it could be achieved until the Parachute system itself is changed significantly to reduce the financial protection prov8ded to PL teams relegated to the Championship!