THIS COULD BE GOOD FOR US

Last updated : 16 September 2002 By editor
The Premier League has scorned a suggestion that Football League clubs could raise funds by "selling" one of their automatic promotion places to the Premiership, insisting that promotion and relegation between the top flight and the Nationwide League is the "lifeblood" of the game.

Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive, proposed the radical idea - which would effectively mean Premier League clubs paying for a reduced risk of relegation - in a Sunday newspaper article.

Two of the clubs that dropped out of the Premier League last season, Derby County and Leicester City, are both struggling financially after losing their share of the Premiership's television revenue. Taylor was quoted as saying: "The Premier League should want to avoid one of their members being relegated, as we have seen how hard hit clubs like Derby and Leicester have been. The price of relegation from the Premier League would be high, as high as £100m."