Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton are three of the strongest sides to ever be relegated from the Premier League together.
With them occupying three of the division’s top four spots, there is a chance they all secure an immediate return to the top-flight in a standard of promotion race that has never been seen before, which would be the first time it has ever happened.
Aside from an incredible season from Ipswich Town, clearly the gap between the relegated trio and the rest of the division is as big as it has ever been, however that is not necessarily always going to be the case.
Leeds, Leicester and Southampton have all spent multiple years in the Premier League and so are bound to have stronger squads than those who have come down in years gone by, such as Norwich City and Watford the year prior, who had been in for just one season.
Many people will attribute parachute payments as the reason why the gap is so big this season, but former QPR director of football Les Ferdinand has spoken of a different reason.
QPR are among several clubs currently fighting to stave off relegation and having not been in the Premier League since 2015, clearly do not have the financial power of the top clubs.
Ferdinand explains big difference between QPR and Leeds
Ferdinand was speaking on the latest episode of the Stick to Football Podcast, where he was asked about what it was like to work behind-the-scenes at a club operating under the Championship’s tight profit and sustainability rules.
Gary Neville cited that the maximum amount a club in the second tier can lose per year is £13 million, which Ferdinand claimed made it tough to spend money on players coming in.
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While parachute payments and player sales are clearly big reasons why Leeds, Leicester and Southampton have been able to spend more, it is not the only one.
Ferdinand went onto share the difference between Leeds and QPR in particular, and how the former generate so much more revenue than the latter on a week-to-week basis.
He said: “We couldn’t spend more money, that is why we were bringing in frees and loans. We had to do that for the club to be sustainable. A lot of clubs, like you go to Leeds for instance, every other week they get 30 odd thousand.
“Plus during the week the stadium is used, the boxes are used for business meetings. QPR because of where it is, there’s no parking. It only became sustainable on a matchday, there’s no other income coming
