Gary Neville expresses concern with Premier League competitiveness after Burnley and Sheffield United - and potentially Luton Town too - are relegated

The Clarets came up with plenty of optimism this time last year after romping to the Championship title with 101 points.

Despite spending almost £100m on summer signings, it’s not worked out at all for Vincent Kompany’s men, who have collected a measly 24 points from their 37 games.

With fellow newly-promoted side Sheffield United finishing bottom, and Luton Town also about to join them back in the Championship, Neville believes there is a big issue with competition that needs to be addressed.

“It’s something we should just be aware of,” he told The Gary Neville Podcast.

“I know Premier League clubs have always mentioned parachute payments aren’t detrimental to competition, but we’re now seeing a repeated pattern of the teams that go down coming back up quickly and we’re seeing a repeated pattern of the teams that come up go back down down straight away.

“With Sheffield United and Burnley – and Luton looking like they’re going to go as well – that’s the three teams that came up last season. We’ve got to be concerned about that and we should monitor it.

“There will always be this protection from the Premier League of parachute payments, but they should be looked at and they should look at transitioning them out in some way so we do get a competitive Championship and a better distribution, so we also get a more competitive Premier League.

“The Premier League is competitive, but Manchester City could win the league for a fourth straight time next weekend and obviously the same teams have gone down, so I am a little concerned about that and I don’t want it to continue.”

Neville added: “The only reason you need a parachute is because there’s a large drop. If there wasn’t such a large drop between 20th in the Premier League and first in the Championship, then you wouldn’t need a parachute, you’d need a step.

“I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a difference between the money in the Premier League and the money in the Championship, of course there should. There should be a significant amount of money difference.

“But it shouldn’t be £100m at the bottom of the Premier League and £5m or £6m at the top of the Championship, it just shouldn’t be. It can never be that big of a gap, it needs to be closer.

“I don’t know how we manage that. They’re talking about some sort of salary cap in the Premier League. Maybe there is some sort of cap that gets put on wages when a club goes down, but most clubs put those step-down in wages in to protect themselves against relegation. But maybe they need to be more stringent with it to a point whereby that gap is smaller and that difference in salary is such that it means you don’t need parachutes.

“There is a significant liability to the rest of the Championship clubs though and you’re creating a desperation and we don’t want that.

“It should be that if you go down, there is sporting disappointment, not almost financial ruin. But teams are so desperate to hang onto this parachute payment, this money. It doesn’t need to be that way.”

Reflecting on Burnley’s struggles this season, Neville added: “They’ve just not been up to it, have they? Throughout the season they’ve fallen short.

“They will be disappointed because they threw a bit of money at it.

“But Vincent Kompany if he stays…I remember Sean Dyche went down at a certain point and brought them back up and had a good few years, so maybe it’s a learning curve, maturing as a club and getting used to it. Maybe they need that relegation again to come back up again.

“Sheffield United have found it very difficult, while Luton have been one of the stories of the season. I think we’ve all had a little bit of a soft spot for them, but they will inevitably go down next weekend and it will be sad if that happens.

“But well done to Nottingham Forest and the others for staying above the relegation zone.”