Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Club News

CHAIRMAN KELVIN THOMAS SAYS CLUB WOULD BENEFIT FROM MANY OF PROJECT BIG PICTURE PROPOSALS

Chairman on the ideas put forward by Project Big Picture

14 October 2020

Club News

CHAIRMAN KELVIN THOMAS SAYS CLUB WOULD BENEFIT FROM MANY OF PROJECT BIG PICTURE PROPOSALS

Chairman on the ideas put forward by Project Big Picture

14 October 2020

Northampton Town Chairman Kelvin Thomas says the majority of the ideas put forward in project Big Picture will be a huge help to clubs in the EFL.

Media reports over the weekend provided details of the Project Big Picture proposals, and the Cobblers Chairman said that the club would benefit from many of the ideas put forward.

"Once you get past the initial shock of the announcement at the weekend and when you look at the proposal, most of football could get behind 90% of it and see it as a big positive," he said, speaking before the Premier League meeting on Wednesday.

"There is part of it that most people will question, most of that Premier League governance, but as an EFL club then just about all of what is proposed benefits us.

"Of the 72 clubs that met on Tuesday, there were only about 3 or 4 who were not in favour, and this has to be seen as a potential way forward, especially if some of the Premier League governance issues can be talked through and resolved.

"The increased revenue for us as an EFL club is fantastic. We are talking about receiving 2 and a half or 3 times our annual revenues and that will make a huge difference. The biggest issue in football, even pre COVID-19 is a reliance on owner funding, and this does something to address that.

"This is just a proposal at this stage but a lot of detail has gone in to it and it addresses a lot of football's long term issues.

"Bail outs and rescue packages are essential at the moment, but they will only get us back to where we were, and where we were was not sustainable.

"We have had talks with a lot of clubs and overall we are supportive, especially when linked to spending controls and salary caps and this has the chance to make all clubs sustainable from the start and this will make a massive difference to football.

"We will spend some time over the next few days talking to supporters about these plans. We will take part in a BBC Radio Northampton event on Friday and I have offered to talk to the Supporters Trust board about these plans too. 

"The contentious issue is the power this gives the top six or the top nine in the Premier League but that is a Premier League issue to be resolved. Gary Neville was spot on when he said the proposal is great, we now need the Premier League clubs to sort their issues out between themselves.

"It will be a shame to lose the League Cup but if that is what we lost to ensure that Northampton Town was immediately made sustainable for the foreseeable future then that is a price worth paying in our opinion.

"The contentious issues need to be dealt with but the bigger picture is making football sustainable overall and this plan does that.

"I am not saying we are ready to sign anything off today, but we fully support Rick Parry in his work to get something that makes football sustainable.

"I don't think the plans will get passed as they are, but we are on the 18th amendment of these plans so this is a detailed analysis of the situation and a detailed plan. I think further detail will come out and we have to consider proposals that give the EFL 25% of a bigger revenuer pot and invest in women's football, the FA and Wembley Stadium. There are so many areas that are so positive of this and we have to work through the concerns.

"There are also details about ticket prices and travel costs and this is why 90-95% of the EFL clubs are supportive of this plan."


Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Account