Richard Masters hopes promoted clubs can compete to survive in Premier League

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters hopes the new season produces a genuine relegation battle following two years of the promoted clubs going straight back down in emphatic fashion.

Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland are tasked with bucking an alarming recent trend which suggests the gap between the top flight and the Sky Bet Championship is widening.

The fate of last season’s bottom three – Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton – was confirmed with four rounds of fixtures to spare.

Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United went down in the 2023-24 campaign – the first time all three newly-promoted teams failed to survive since 1998.

Each of those six clubs accumulated 26 points or fewer, with the Saints and the Blades becoming the second and joint fourth worst teams in Premier League history after collecting just 12 and 16 points respectively.

“I’m aware about the last two seasons; you obviously need to look at it over a longer period, work out whether this is a trend,” said Masters.

“What we want from the Premier League perspective is a competition that works from top to bottom, that is competitive from top to bottom.

“The last two seasons we haven’t had competition at the bottom. We would like there to be competition at the bottom of the league, in the middle of the league and at the top of the league, so that debate will continue.

“At the moment, it’s three seasons out of 33 in the Premier League it has happened.”

Play-off winners Sunderland host West Ham on Saturday afternoon in their first Premier League fixture since 2017.

Championship runners-up Burnley play away to Tottenham, who finished 17th last term and 13 points clear of danger, at the same time before title winners Leeds welcome Everton to Elland Road on Monday evening.

“We want to see lots of clubs, over time, coming in and out of the Premier League,” said Masters “We’ve had 51 since the Premier League began (in 1992).

“The season before the two that you talked about (the last two) was when Forest, Bournemouth and Fulham came up, and they’ve all stayed since.

“Forest are in Europe and Bournemouth had their best season ever (56 points last term).

“Other clubs have proven it’s possible to come up and make a success in the Premier League, with and without parachute payments.”

Parachute payments are a series of solidarity payments the Premier League makes, for up to three years, to help relegated clubs adapt to reduced revenues in the Championship.

The English Football League believes the funding gives teams a significant advantage while forcing rival second-tier sides to risk financial jeopardy by overspending in an effort to compete.

“The debate about the solidarity payments and parachute payments within the league will continue,” said Masters.

“The importance of parachute payments to me is obvious because it’s not just the promoted clubs.

“Any club that might think they have a chance of relegation during a sort of five to 10-year period has got to feel like they’ll be supported and continue to invest.”

Burnley and Sunderland are odds-on to finish in the drop zone, with bookmakers tipping Leeds to join them.

Asked if the lack of competition at the foot of the division would become a serious concern if those clubs do go down, Masters replied: “We’re going to have to wait and see.

“I don’t want to predict anyone’s going to get relegated before we’ve started.”