Reading boss Paul Ince believes the EFL should look to America when it comes to rebalancing the finances in football.

Always a hot topic of conversation, relegated sides are currently in receipt of 'parachute payments' to help with the cliff-face of dropping out of the Premier League.

Many, including Ince, believe it leaves those in the Championship at a disadvantage as the gap between revenues is so extraordinary.

Speaking exclusively to the Reading Chronicle, the former England captain believes it needs improving.

"There’s a lot of clubs in the Championship who want to be in the Premier League," he started explaining. "It’s always been the yo-yo clubs, Norwich’s, and Burnley’s, West Brom’s, because they’ve got parachute payments. We can’t compete. You’re rewarding relegation. Somewhere down the line, the EFL have to do something where it becomes more of a level playing field.

"I think when the season started, we had a seven per cent chance of going up compared to those that came down from the Premier League. You wonder why these other clubs spend over their means to try and get to the Holy Grail. If you look at the MLS, the wage cap is the same, and the NFL Draft where the bottom team gets first pick, I feel it’s something we should look at. You see so many big clubs down there who now can’t financially compete."

Despite the financial hole, teams such as Huddersfield Town and Luton Town reached last year's play-offs, neither of which are in receipt of parachute payments.

Nathan Jones, the-then manager of Luton, is now with Premier League Southampton.

Reading Chronicle:

Close firends from their time together on the coaching courses, Ince wants to follow his lead.

"Nathan is a good friend of mine and I spoke to him the other day about the Southampton job. I was pleased because it shows how people are willing to give British managers a go at that level. You’re always going to get a season where those teams are going to get in, if you can scrape into one of those two spots you’ve got half a chance. Huddersfield nearly got into the Premier League on the back of it. It’s do-able, there’s no given way of getting into the Premier League."

Reading have been unable to spend money on transfer fees since 2019 due to breaching Profit and Sustainability regulations.