The “top” clubs receive more CL appearance money than we do because of the “value pillar”
So the financial impact is very significant.
I don't mean it's not a significant amount, it clearly is. I mean it's less significant to THEM. Think of it as a proportion of their revenue. A £100m Champions League campaign would be about 15% of Man Utd's revenue. To us, that figure goes up to at least 25%, maybe more. That's what I mean about it being something they can absorb for a year or two, whereas we can't, really - not yet, anyway.
When we're a £500m a year football club, missing out on Champions League will still affect our spending plans, but it will be much less likely to necessitate a fire sale. If Man Utd miss out, they might be looking at only buying their 2nd or 3rd choice players for a particular position. If we miss out, we might be looking at having to sell Morgan Rogers to balance the books. That's the difference today, and the sooner it's no longer a difference, the better.