EFL clubs facing financial 'catastrophe', warns owner

Pompey posted a loss of £4.36m for 2024/25, somewhat modest compared to the likes of Hull (£41.7m) and Coventry (£21.6m). Cobblers are set to post record losses when they publish their annual accounts in the coming weeks.

"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," said Eisner. "Every single club in the Championship lost money last year. The combined operating loss of the 24 teams for the last full set of published results in 2023-24 was £411m.

"No club can survive for the long-term in this system and if that continues, catastrophe will happen. If the forces that control the pyramid from the top tiers to the bottom tiers do not make football more sustainable and do it quickly, those dark clouds will deliver more soaking red ink beyond what one can imagine.

"We need effective player salary cost controls, real attention to fairer distribution of media revenues and for English football to join the rest of the sports world in more advanced commercialisation of the broadcast and streaming product.

"My family is walking headstrong into this storm, but if I was a historic fan in Portsmouth, I'd scream for change in the structure to protect the beautiful game and our clubs and their communities for generations to come."

Championship clubs are due to vote on new salary cost rules for next season which would restrict a club's spending on players, managers and agents' fees to 85 per cent of its revenue. There is also a proposal to limit owners to £33m investment over three seasons with a ceiling of £15m in any one season.

Conversations are also taking place between clubs in League One and League Two.