‘Everyone is chasing dreams’: as wages soar will EFL lose appeal for foreign investors?
The landscape of English football below the Premier League is changing rapidly, and not everyone welcomes the transformation. Brad Galinson, owner of League Two side Gillingham, has sounded a stark warning about the financial trajectory of clubs in the English Football League (EFL). As investment floods into the lower tiers—partly inspired by high-profile takeovers—the cost of running competitive squads has ballooned, raising questions about sustainability, governance and the long-term health of the game outside the top flight.
Situation in EFL
Galinson’s concerns were prompted by what he sees as an acceleration of risky financial behaviour among EFL clubs. He cautioned that many teams are teetering on the brink of crisis, citing recent high-profile troubles at clubs like Sheffield Wednesday as an example of what can happen when spending outstrips revenues and structural safeguards fail.
A notable symptom of the shift is the sharp rise in playing budgets across League One. Two seasons ago, 13 clubs reportedly operated with playing budgets under £3.5 million; this season that number has fallen to just two. Several clubs are now believed to be spending in excess of £10 million on playing budgets, a previously unlikely figure at that level of the pyramid. This surge has been widely linked to the so-called “Wrexham effect”—the visibility and perceived success that followed heavy investment in clubs outside the elite levels of English football, which has encouraged investors from around the world to buy into lower-league teams.
