Ipswich news: Opinion – Why yo-yo clubs will continue

I have nothing constructive to add into the discourse following Ipswich’s Easter Sunday defeat by Arsenal.

On a lovely sunny Suffolk afternoon, Leif Davis is now public enemy number one for those of a red persuasion, Town shipped another four goals at Portman Road, and ultimately nothing new was learned. Bring on the summer please.

Something I found more egregious to discuss was the contents of a tweet posted by football finance expert Kieran Maguire on social media on Monday.

Maguire explained that when Leicester and Southampton were relegated in 2022-23 and promoted back the following season, £102m in parachute payments were saved.

He added that should Burnley and Leeds be promoted back to the top flight this campaign (which looks more and more likely COULD ALREADY BE SORTED, PLEASE CHECK) a further £51m will also be saved.

These “savings”, and hopefully you can see this coming, do not get pumped into charitable causes (at least directly), nor do they help level the playing field to the rest of the pyramid or bolster the grassroots game. No, these savings are split between Premier League clubs like some kind of misery dividend.

And while the gathering debate among football pundits about the increasing anti-competitive disparity between the Premier League and EFL is helpful (if not somewhat belated), it seems to be just talk while those with the power to act – the Premier League and the member clubs – do nothing, or worse are incentivised to maintain it.

That Premier League clubs benefit from certain clubs yo-yoing up and down like some kind of horrible purgatory (something I fear for my team Ipswich) and it is this group that have the influence to make change.

What chance does the wider game have? After all, turkeys don’t vote for Christmas (nor eggs for Easter etc.).

Find more from Richard Woodward at the Blue Monday Podcast