Andrea Radrizzani doesn’t think Leeds United are able to compete financially with relegated sides that receive parachute payments but is still positive ahead of the new season.
The Italian media mogul has never been shy of giving his thoughts on the Football League, and at the recent FT Business of Football Summit which has been transcribed FC Business magazine, he went into detail about his opposition to the latest television deal with Sky Sports.
Were it not for parachute payments, Leeds would be up there with any other Championship club in terms of revenue. Last season saw newly-relegated sides Stoke, West Brom and Swansea receive lucrative amounts, alongside other sides including Hull and Middlesbrough.
Critics of the parachute payment system say that it tips the balance in favour of recently-relegated clubs and creates a gap that the others can’t make up.
"I cannot complete with clubs coming from the Premier League with a £100m budget who can come to our place and steal our players easily,” said Radrizzani.
Given the riches that clubs also receive from even a short stay in the Premier League, there’s theoretically a danger of the same group of richer clubs yo-yoing between the top two divisions and leaving those without parachute payments behind.
However, this hasn’t yet worked out to be the case, with the likes of Brighton, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield, and most recently Sheffield United going up without them.
The Leeds United chairman is aware of that, and is using those examples as inspiration for how the club can go one further going forward, having fallen behind the Blades in the battle for second last season.
"Sheffield United showed that it's not just about money,” he added. “It's about ideas, project and commitment.
“And therefore I am still even more motivated than before to go ahead because the example of Sheffield United was in front of us this year.
