Simon Jordan has urged the EFL to force through a salary cap so teams can survive the current crisis facing clubs up and down the country.
The coronavirus pandemic has already significantly affected the finances of clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two.
They do not have the luxury of receiving millions of pounds of TV money as Premier League clubs do, and they often have to rely on matchday income simply to survive.
And many of those clubs are now fearing for their futures, with claims the COVID-19 crisis could see football matches being played behind closed doors well into 2021.
Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan thinks a salary cap is what the EFL needs to ensure teams survive.
He told talkSPORT: “Why they can’t work is because they won’t enforce it now. Rick Parry has the strength now because they need it now. They can’t survive. They need help. They need it to help them.
“They will be more receptive. You will get 72 clubs, 71 currently, in the Football League saying ‘please bring in governance’ because they’ve seen they can’t ever go to the players, they can’t change direction, and now is the time that governance comes in and forces the change through.
“It’s about proper joined up, grown up, mature thinking.
“I wanted it when I was there [Crystal Palace]. It would have helped me, and owners at the time, from doing damage to themselves.
“Now you have a situation where they really do need it. They’ve got a leader, [even if] I don’t agree with him about parachute payments; I think it’s a bit rich for the person behind parachute payments to now describe them as the greatest evil.
“It’s silly because if you take product out of the Championship and put it in the Premier League it can’t compete, because it is frightened of getting relegated so can’t increase its wage bill. It will stink out the Premier League in terms of quality.
“Take out the competitive nature of the relegation clause, devalue the product, make it less valuable to broadcasters around the world, and it will become a problem full stop.”
Jordan also said there was an onus on Premier League clubs to give some support to the football pyramid below them.
He added: “Whilst I don’t expect [Man City owner] Sheikh Mansour to care about what’s happening down the pyramid, or I don’t expect John Henry [of Liverpool] or XYZ owner, or the American owners of Crystal Palace to care, I do expect them to respect the conditions in which football was established in this country.
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“Don’t forget how many young players are being produced around this country by these goldmines. David Platt and people like him came out of Crewe and places like that where their academies were producing diamonds.
“When I had Palace in the Football League we produced Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha, John Bostock, Wayne Routledge… all of these players who have gone on to the highest level while being developed outside the Premier League.
“It’s all part of the rich tapestry of the uniqueness of football in this country and football has a responsibility.”
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