By David Owen
May 28 – He is within two months of his 40th birthday – and now he can claim to be the £120 million man. Kevin Phillips, the former Baldock Town, Sunderland, Southampton, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham, Blackpool and (eight times) England striker, blasted Crystal Palace back into the Premier League from the penalty spot on Monday, sending opponents Watford, another of his former clubs, into the depths of despair.
Phillips’s 105th-minute spot-kick in front of a more than 80,000 crowd at Wembley was enough to send the south London club back into the English top-flight for the first time since 2005.
Palace’s return is timed neatly to coincide with the beginning of a new batch of TV deals that will make Premier League participation more lucrative than ever.
According to professional services firm Deloitte, Monday’s Championship play-off final – which has long offered what, in effect, is the biggest financial prize hanging on a single match in world football – will be worth about £120 million to the winners.
Adam Bull, senior consultant in Deloitte’s sports business group, explained: “The winners…can expect a revenue increase of more than £60 million in 2013-14.
“The vast majority of this uplift, approximately £55 million, will be from broadcast income, as the Premier League enters the first year of its greatly enhanced three-year TV deals.
“Based on existing distribution methods, even if a club is relegated after one season in the Premier League, it will be entitled to parachute payments over the following four seasons of around £60 million.”
Palace, who finished fifth in the regular season, two places and five points behind Watford, will join already promoted Cardiff City and Hull City in the Premier League in August.
This trio replaces relegated Reading, Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic.
With Palace’s star player Wilfried Zaha, now set to join his new club Manchester United and new manager David Moyes, in what was reported earlier this year as an up to £15 million deal, depending partly on appearances, many will indeed expect the play-off winners’ stay in the English top tier to be brief.
They do, however, have a manager, in the shape of former Blackpool boss Ian Holloway, with Premier League experience.
And what of Phillips? Will the scorer of the decisive goal be there to help them at the start of his fifth decade on the planet?
In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s game, that remained unclear, with the striker telling reporters he was going to have a break and did not know if he would carry on.
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