Is the Championship heading for financial 'catastrophe'?

It would also get you about 760 properties in London's Mayfair - by far the UK's most expensive place to live. Alternatively, it covers the cost of 12,000 houses worth £250,000 - enough to fill a reasonably-sized town. With two second-tier clubs still yet to submit their accounts for the most recent year, that figure will rise further in the coming weeks.

Just three Championship clubs recorded a profit in 2024-25 and one of those, Stoke City, only did so because a £90m loan was waived by new owner John Coates to offset what would have otherwise been a £29m loss. "No club can survive for the long-term in this system and if that continues, catastrophe will happen," warned Portsmouth chairman Michael Eisner. "There are dark clouds hovering over the English football pyramid and it seems to me there could be a real collapse where only the Premier League survives.

" Pretty stark words from the 84-year-old former Disney CEO who, at Pompey, oversees one of the clubs which has spent considerably less than most others to have played in the division. So, has the financial bubble burst in the Championship? Or is it more a big balloon that has been slowly inflating towards popping point over more than a decade?

Bristol City, owned by Steve Lansdown, have lost £111m in the past five years - and £218m since he became chairman and majority shareholder in 2002 "What concerns me is that we've become anaesthetised to the huge numbers which are involved," football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Sport. He added: "And that's now starting to drip down into League One, where the average annual losses have tripled from about £2m a year to £6m over the last couple of seasons. "It will only survive if there is - like at present - a non-stop line of wealthy individuals or corporations that are willing to subsidise football.