Darragh MacAnthony labels the EFL rescue package from the Premier League ‘a disaster and a disgrace’

MacAnthony was expecting each EFL club to receive £1 million from both the Premier League and the UK Government, but so far they have been awarded a grant of £375k plus a top-up based on crowd size.

Access to a third fund is available, but if Posh wanted to claim a contribution from that they would have to accept a transfer embargo and a restriction on how much they could spend on future individual transfers, possibly as little as £20k on each.

Posh have four players in their current squad - Mo Eisa, Sammie Szmodics, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Taylor - who cost close to £1 million apiece.

A financial bailout was necessary as lower league clubs rely on crowds to generate a lot of their income and matches have been played behind closed doors all season until recently.

“Nine months we waited for a bailout and we got less than £400k which won’t go very far,” MacAnthony moaned on the latest edition of his popular ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “When you set that against the millions we have lost it’s not very much at all.

“With a £50 million bailout for 40 clubs I was expecting a million from the Premier League and then another million from the Government to make up what we’ve lost.

“Instead the deal is a disaster. In fact it’s a disgrace.

“I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but that’s the truth. It’s how I feel.

“I can only see trouble further down the line.

“Not as much trouble as I previously thought as there has been a bailout and some fans are being allowed back into grounds, but I can see owners of big clubs selling up and I can see some clubs struggling badly.

“We won’t be using that third fund. It seems to me like well-run clubs are being punished.”

The relief package agreed by the Premier League provides a combined fund of £50 million for League One and League Two clubs, with £30 million to be paid to all 48 clubs as a grant to cover lost gate revenues in each of the last two seasons.

A further £20 million is available in the form of a ‘monitored grant,’ which has many strings attached for successful applicants.