LONDON/ISPORTCONNECT: The ceo of Reading Football Club is happy with the financial position of the club, despite seeing the team fall out of the Premier League this season.

Reading, along with QPR and Wigan Athletic will be playing Championship football next year and as a result will miss out on a large hike in broadcast payments.

However, Nigel Howe, Chief Executive Officer of Reading said that he is confident the club will be able to cope in the lower division.

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Howe said: “The club is run in a sound financial manner and we hope that the squad and the reductions in salary that the squad members have in their contracts, will enable us to continue to trade in a solvent way going forward.

“We have natural wastage which means players who are going out of contract, players who will want to leave because they feel they are still Premier League players and we will have players who want to come in..

“The economics tend to manufacture themselves so the incoming and the outgoings tend to balance.”

Parachute payments have been increased this year to help relegated clubs adjust to life in the Championship and whilst some argue against the idea, Howe said it is necessary.

He added: “I am in favour because I think parachute payments are essential. There is such a divide between the Premier League and the Championship that you can’t make that jump.

“You need the parachute payments to enable the stabilisation to take a period of time. Therefore if you do not go straight back up, the second year payment is slightly less than the first year but it does mean that those players on two or three year contracts can be washed out of the system.”

Nigel Howe spoke to iSportconnect for a Featured Profile interview where he discussed relegation, how he thinks the club should have done more business in the transfer windows, global expansion and his philosophy for breaking the Indian market.

Full interview *

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