Rick Parry insists Project Big Picture will protect the game despite Premier League concerns

Plans for a drastic overhaul of English football and the Premier League - dubbed 'Project Big Picture' - will protect the future of clubs, according to EFL chairman Rick Parry.

The radical plans, which came to light on Sunday via the Telegraph, propose drastic changes to the current English structure, with a move to an 18-team Premier League top-flight and greater powers to the 'big six' among them.

The Premier League has already expressed its disappointment at Parry's support of the "damaging" plans, but Parry went on the front foot to explain why he feels change is necessary.

One of Project Big Picture's pledges is to hand £250million to EFL clubs in order to mitigate the current coronavirus pandemic which has seen fans locked out of football grounds since March.

"The creation of a short-term rescue fund of £250m to replace lost matchday revenue this season and last will enable every club to plan to continue to play and move forward with certainty," Parry said on Sunday.

"As an advance against increased future revenues this is not a loan and therefore does not need to be repaid. It could never have been repaid under the existing terms and revenue of the English pyramid.

"Now is the time to address both the long-term health of the game and the most challenging short-term crisis it has ever faced. Project Big Picture provides a new beginning which will revitalise the football pyramid at all levels. This new beginning will reinvigorate clubs in the lower leagues and the communities in which they are based."

After reports emerged on Sunday lunchtime, the EFL admitted it had been working on an "innovative proposal" with a number of Premier League clubs, with the aim of "resetting the economics and governance across the English football pyramid and in the process, protect the game in both the short and long term".

Other proposals include the abolition of the League Cup and Community Shield, with 25 per cent of the Premier League's annual income going to EFL clubs.

Chairman Parry, one of the founders of the Premier League, added: "The need for a complete rethinking regarding the funding of English professional football predates the Covid-19 crisis. Discussion and planning around 'Project Big Picture' has been ongoing for quite some time, unrelated to the current pandemic, but now has an urgency that simply cannot be denied.

"The revenues flowing from the investment and work of our top clubs has been largely limited to the top division creating a sort of lottery, while Championship clubs struggle to behave prudently and Leagues One and Two are financially stretched despite enormous revenues English football generates. This plan devised by our top clubs and the English Football League puts an end to all of that.

"The gap between the Premier League and the English Football League has become a chasm which has become unbridgeable for clubs transitioning between the EFL and Premier League. In 2018-19, Championship clubs received £146million in EFL distributions and Premier League solidarity payments. This compares with £1.58billion received by the bottom 14 Premier League clubs - 11 times as much."

Additional reporting by PA.

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