Luton have not received any of the £125million pot the Premier League has released for lower league clubs, with chief executive Gary Sweet saying the EFL are in an ‘impossible situation’ of not knowing how to distribute it fairly.
The Hatters supremo has previously called on the top flight to dip into their £1.5billion cash reserves to help stricken clubs throughout the football pyramid as the Coronavirus pandemic puts enormous pressure on clubs’ futures.
Last week the Premier League made £125million available for the EFL and National League, and Sweet said: “Every single bit of assistance we get from any authority is always most grateful, but we haven’t seen any of that money yet either because the league, frankly, don’t know how to distribute it, because it’s done on a divisional basis.
“So, if you look at us, we could be in League One or the Championship and the difference in that distribution between League One and the Championship, for that particular part of the fund, is huge.
“So, it could be either next to nothing or it could be quite a significant payment. So, what if they decide we are a Championship club and let’s have that Championship component distribution and then we get relegated, how do they get the money back from us when we’ve already spent it?
“It’s just an impossible situation for them, really, because the Premier League hasn’t given them the authority to affectively give that money away. It’s a forwarded advance payment from next year so, at the moment, is of no value at all.”
The money isn’t a donation from the Premier League either, but is merely brought forward from next season, which could help in the short term but then kicks the can down the road.
Sweet said: “Our cash flow challenges are in the immediate future, but then actually in August, where we planned to see income because of the various games we’re going to play some of those Football League and Premier League distribution [deals].
“So, the Premier League providing monies for the Football League, to be able to bring those balancing payments forward, it helps us a little bit now but all that does is push the problem down to August.
“There is no point in starting games in October if we fall off the edge of the Cliff on the 1st of August.”
Sweet also called on the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) to help out clubs, financially.
“Any authority in football that has a bank balance, it isn’t time now to sit on it for a rainy day. This is the rainy day, this is a storm and there’s no point in counting your interest, if there’s not going to be a business next year,” he said.
“So, this is where the football family has to come together and that includes the Football League and the PFA, not just the Premier League. The PFA have a significant fund too and we’ve yet to see any of that.
“We’ve got to cut the wages of footballers salaries somehow and the PFA have a significant pot sitting behind them. So, it’s not just about the Premier League and the Football League. I know it’s costing all of us money at the moment, but there are some cash reserves available.”
