TOTTENHAM and Liverpool will be entitled to multi-million pound rebates for their stadium rebuilds under the small-print in Project Big Picture.
Spurs would be eligible to claim back £125million of the £1billion cost of their new 62,000 capacity home at white Hart Lane.
Tottenham will be able to recoup £125m from the cost of their £1bn new stadium under proposed PL changesCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Liverpool, meanwhile, the joint architects of the package with Manchester United, could rake back £30m of the cost of their new main stand at Anfield.
The news of the potential pay-outs will only add to the backlash by the 14 Premier League clubs left out of the loop.
Under the proposals, a new ‘infrastructure fund’ worth £150m per year would be set aside from the Premier League revenue stream for ‘assistance payments’ for clubs embarking on stadium projects.
Clubs could also make backdated requests to cover recently-finished work, allowing Spurs and Liverpool to cash in.
Up to £250m would be available for teams who have been in the top flight for at least 12 of the last 15 seasons.
And clubs who have been in the Premier League for four straight seasons or eight out of ten seasons could claim £100m.
The measures would also allow Liverpool to get back half of the estimated £60m costs of the planned expansion of the Anfield Road Stand.
Meanwhile, Everton’s new £500m Bramley Moore dock scheme would see the costs to the club halved to £250m.
Liverpool will be able to reclaim £30m from their Main Stand improvementsCredit: Getty – Contributor
One club chief said: “This just makes a bad idea worse.
“What’s to stop the Big Six, who have more cash than the rest of us, doing their building work now and then pulling down the shutters?
“It’s completely wrong.”
Premier League bosses have scrutinised the figures underpinning the plan and have noted that promoted clubs would be hit twice by the new measures.
Not only would clubs at the bottom of the table see their basic income reduced from around £90m to between £40m and £50m each year, but newly-promoted teams would be mandated to hold back £25m of their income rather than spend it on players.
Premier League number crunchers also point to the intention to bring domestic Financial Fair Play limits into line with Uefa requirements.
That would only allow clubs to lose £35m over three years rather than the current figure of £105m, further impacting on the smaller clubs’ ability to challenge the big boys.
Earlier on Monday, the Government threatened to step in to football amid radical plans to change the game.
Secretary of State Oliver Dowden hinted the Government could intervene and take control of governance of the beautiful game.
Dowden is scheduled to speak at a select committee today about plans for fans to return to sporting venues.
Speaking on Sky News on Monday morning, Dowden said: “If we keep having these backroom deals and all these other things going on we will have to look again at the underlying governance of football.
“We promised in the (general election) manifesto a fan-led review and I must say the events I have seen the past few weeks have made this seem more urgent again.
“Unless the clubs and the Premier League and the EFL can get together urgently in order to support the game through this difficult period of time it does raise genuine questions about the governance of the sport.”
On Sunday, the Premier League released a statement lashing out at the proposal, calling it ‘damaging’.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden says he fears Premier League reform plans are a ‘power grab’
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
