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Could newly promoted Premier League clubs be given help?

The pressing issue of newly promoted Premier League teams being relegated immediately is expected to come under the spotlight at the top-flight clubs’ first meeting of the season next week when future financial rules are discussed.

Ipswich Town, Southampton and Leicester City, who were promoted from the Championship in the 2023-24 campaign, were all relegated last season, the second successive year that has happened. There is a growing feeling that promoted clubs are not being helped by Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) — and that the gap is widening.

Newly promoted Sunderland and Leeds United will have maximum permitted PSR losses of £61million for this 2025-26 season as they have been in the EFL for the previous two years, while those who have been in the top flight will have a £105million limit.

If the prevailing mood is to keep PSR next season — and there is unlikely to be a vote on that until the new year — then one idea doing the rounds is that promotion bonuses should be exempt from PSR calculations. These can be hefty: Leeds’s latest annual report discloses they had to pay £19.2million in player bonuses after winning the Championship.

But while some clubs believe that it would be healthier for the league if promoted sides were more competitive, those who would be at increased risk of relegation may be reluctant to change the rules.

The debate on the future of financial rules is also expected to cover the proposed Squad Cost Rule, which would limit the amount clubs spend on player wages, transfers and agents to 85 per cent of their turnover. It is already used by Uefa, but with a lower figure of 70 per cent.

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