BREAKING: “REVEALED THE FINANCIAL DISASTER FOR CARDIFF CITY

The cost of relegation from the Championship to League One as Cardiff City face disaster

This is Cardiff City’s 125th Anniversary and it’s been a complete disaster.



Wednesday 23rd April 2025

Fans have to be fair to them twice demonstrated against the Cardiff Hierarchy.

The Bluebirds are staring down the barrel of relegation to League One after Monday's set of results

Cardiff City are standing on the brink of dropping down to the third tier of the football pyramid for the first time in 22 years, since Sam Hammam brought them up to the Championship.

No team has won fewer games than Cardiff (nine) all season and the Bluebirds have lost a staggering 24 points from winning positions.

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“ Broadcast revenue, basic awards and solidarity payments “




While it's difficult to estimate exactly how much each club rakes in from broadcast revenue, it's fair to say there is a significant drop-off when it comes to TV money in the Championship compared to League one.

The EFL's five-year, £935 million domestic broadcast deal with Sky Sports covers the Championship, League One, and League Two, with over 1,000 matches broadcast annually. However the money received differs greatly between divisions.

The old deal saw Championship clubs bring in roughly £2.5m from the EFL's TV deal per season, however the new deal places that number at around £3-4m, plus per-match fees which could represent anywhere between £500,000 and £1.5m per season.





The EFL's international TV rights deal is also noteworthy, worth at least £148m and could add between £1m and £2m to the TV revenue pot before the deal.

Solidarity payments also account for a huge portion of Championship clubs' income. These are payments made by the Premier League to EFL clubs in order to support the wider football pyramid and reduce the financial gap between the divisions.

The money comes from a portion of the Premier League's broadcasting revenue, but it's not part of the EFL's own TV deal. Non-parachute payment Championship clubs receive solidarity payments from the Premier League, calculated as 30% of the third-year parachute payment. It is estimated at around £5m per Championship club.

Tally all the above and you're looking at anywhere between £9.5m and £12.5m. So, let's contrast that with League One.

Again, we don't have exact figures as TV money data tends to lag by a year and it's a new broadcasting deal, but let's make do with what we do know.

The Sky Sports deal is significantly lower in the third tier and clubs this season are expected to bring in roughly £800,000–£900,000 from TV rights. International rights are also a lot lower, too, potentially worth around £300,000–£500,000.





Per-match fees are lower, too. A League One club this season could potentially fetch in an estimated £200,000 extra in per-game fees.

For solidarity payments in League One for 2024/25, with rising Premier League TV revenues, each club could net around £780,000.

A rough estimate — and rough should be stressed because official figures are not available — of those income streams in League One for this season appear to sit at around £2m to £2.4m.

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“ Value of the club and squad “






Any drop from the Championship to League One is bound to drastically reduce the value of the club and the players which make up its squad.

There is a question hanging over Vincent Tan and that question will only creep further towards to the forefronts of more supporters' minds if relegation is confirmed: How much longer will he want to stick around?

The Malaysian businessman has been at the club more than a decade and a half and has enjoyed two promotions to the Premier League, suffered two relegations — with the third looming — and kept the club afloat year after year with deep pockets and vast investment. The quality of many of those investments has been a source of constant questioning by many fans,


The trajectory of the club's first team has steadily declined over the last six years. So, will Tan have the desire to mount a League One promotion charge and build a promotion-winning squad? His dream is to see Cardiff in the Premier League again but that is way off if they end up in League One.

It's almost impossible to place a value on the club, should Tan want to sell it. Five years ago, the figure of £75m was touted, however that number is likely somewhere between £50m and £75m now, consistent with other Championship clubs who are thought to value themselves at roughly two or three times their annual revenue – last year Cardiff turned over £23.2m. However, it's a case of the old adage – a club is worth however much a buyer is willing to pay.

Cardiff's squad value is estimated to be around £41.8m, according to Transfermarkt, however players worth a combined £11.75m are either on loan or out of contract in June, reducing that number immediately to £30.05m. In addition, player values can drop by 20 to 40 percent after relegation.

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Cardiff board member and non-executive director Steve Borley also recently confirmed "some players' contracts include relegation clauses but even that would not be enough, so cost cutting would be needed".

There are many facets to relegation clauses, designed to protect both the club and the player. The club-imposed clauses can mean a reduction in wages for players if the team drops to a lower division. They can also stipulate that, if a team bids a certain amount as agreed in the contract, the club must accept the offer and allow said player to leave.

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Annis there maybe a new deal,

BUT premier league won't sighn it off as EFL want parachute payments included in deal and not given to relegated clubs to make it fairer as clubs are manipulating the payments and gaining an advantage over other club as we've seen recently a change in who's being promoted more frequently....did see an article awhile ago and they reckon given all the figures you put down it comes out at around £15m+ reduction in income....if get relegated its going to take a lot of manoeuvring to put us on a stable footing to try for promotion ...so tan as a couple of massive decision to make ? Sell up or speculate to accumulated? Because if dont go up 1st time it's harder to get out league due to the restricted income becoming more acute... only saving grace is we are a "big club" so can attract players other clubs can't.... relegation will set club back 3 or more years in development either way.

Going down to League One, with players on high wages, stadium costs & lower crowds etc could cripple Cardiff, high earners will be moved on, lower wages won't attract the best player's, we are in the shit.

Could we be more attractive option for buyers in Div 1 ? Tan could not ask anywhere near what he could ask if we were a championship club.
Maybe our potential purchase price has reduced by £40m by dropping into Div 1 (if we do) We would then become a good bet for some investors Capital city club , Been in Championship and Premier League and facilities all in place for promotions in future years.
Surely Tan has had enough as all the signs we see is that he has lost interest. He can’t be the idiot that must think he is surely Cut your losses Tan and move on

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Brilliant. Made my day!

No one mentions the players.Robertson & Fish have sell on clauses believe or not. Man City & Utd..Colwill a, let down as is Tanner.
I could name a few more.The players are the ones who run out on the pitch. Add that to not having an experienced manager, Then there's the transfer committee and an absent owner.
It's no wonder we are fucked

This seasons disaster is all thanks to Tans stubbornness in not changing the manager months ago and now he is going to pay the price, but unfortunately us fans will feel the brunt of Tans errors because lets be honest Tans will sell everything in the building which is not nailed down, what a bloody mess the year of our 125th anniversary, we are going to see a very different side next season but not a side like Birmingham I mean a side that I can see struggling in league 1

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Only time I can see tan selling up by bluebirds being relegated he will loose so much money who would want to take us on in league one?? It's the unknown

It’s a disaster financially.

I would seriously doubt our ability to go up even if we kept the exact same squad that we have now.

Too many players don’t care, no passion, no desire and happy to just take the paycheck without performing.

Some might not like this comment, but Wrexham haven’t spent a fortune, nor have the likes of Stockport, Wycombe or Leyton Orient - but they have the right manager and right owners in place, along with a squad who know their positions and their jobs.

I believe we will be mid table league one next season.

It's a financial disaster for just one person. Vincent Tan. Can he afford the disaster? He certainly has the means too. I've seen lots of howling and wailing about how we are finished and we will struggle next year or even go to league two. How does anyone know how Tan will react? Whilst his actions and management have been deplorable no one can argue he hasn't invested his cash. If he wants any of it back he has to give the club a good budget to go back up. Asset stripping will just be small change. Let's just wait and see. I don't necessarily think this will be the doomsday scenario everyone predicts.

This article on lost fee income etc by dropping into League One from the Championship just shows what an utterly ridiculous and reckless decision it was by Tan to hire unproven rookie manager Riza in the first instance - and then not to heed the warnings from the defeat to Oxford on Boxing Day and then the 7-0 hiding at Leeds.

No team has won fewer games than Cardiff (nine) all season and the Bluebirds have lost a staggering 24 points from winning positions.

I have said on here this season about seeing games out and our Goal Difference - which would go hand in hand on the above.
The other problem is losing /drawing to Clubs at home who were around us at the time .

We need to get straight back up first time of asking.
Brum did it but they spent big it's not an easy league as a lot of the older fans no .
We spent millions in league 1 with sam and we only went up through the playoffs v QPR.

Cardiff will be the biggest club in league one but it's over to Tan again to sort it all out .They have to get it right but that's difficult for fans as tan has made a giant mess of it for years .

So it all scares me to death

We won't have a pot to piss in next season and people are already on about buying players and promotion. I'm sure some of our fans live on another plannet sometimes.

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