Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Welcome back to Sunday Supplement.

  • This morning we are in the company off Henry Winter off the Times with Holt from the mail on Miguel Delaney from the Independent.

  • Now this part, we're gonna be talking about the financial aspect for those sort of moral, social financial aspect of the game.

  • With footballers still obviously on their full wages, will that be an issue going forwards in The Telegraph.

  • Sam Wallace There chief football writers say dealing with pay cuts may be critical to the games survival.

  • They reported on Telegraph on Friday that champion planning on capping wages at £6000 a week.

  • On average of the moment, they're roughly about £16 a week in the championship.

  • Andi He talks about elite football contracts of cast iron guarantees in favor of the player.

  • Evening relative Thio, Europe.

  • Andi says here that you'd be hard pressed to find a Premier League footballer unprepared to acknowledge his good fortune.

  • Fortunate playing in an era when even the third choice goalkeeper can afford to live like a member of the landed gentry and he goes on to finish by saying neither side will particularly trust each other and it would not take much to see it descending into the most rancorous of battles.

  • But if the game is to continue, they will have to seek to compromise.

  • Miguel.

  • Yeah, I totally agree with some in that sense on DDE because after what we've been talking about and a crisis like this exposing so many societal issues and that will be too so much money in the game, because basically people are willing to pay for it.

  • But right now there's nothing to pay for which suddenly exposes the gross inequity, reading and the absurdity of some of the figures on some of the money in the game I'd like to see.

  • I would like to see Premier Li clubs reacting properly, clubs in particular because they have the most money buy a long, long way.

  • I would like to see them reacting to this crisis by continuing the work that some of them do in the community.

  • But accentuating that work on DDE, you know, we talk a lot about how much money they earn and the obscene amounts of money they get.

  • I'd like to see them plowing some of that into the into the n hs toe help help for this crisis.

  • We're starting to see that with, you know, I mean, look, we're talking about way saw Manchester United Months City, I think, get together to put £100,000 into local food.

  • Banks of Stockport County, which is my club, donated £75,000 to stop poor N H s trust.

  • Those are you know, there are lots of examples.

  • There are lots of examples of individual players were talking about players and the money then some of them are very aware of their social responsibilities.

  • I think I'd like to see the club's stepping up until about £100,000.

  • That mansion city of Manchester United have donated their and that is that is creditable.

  • That's a great thing that they've done.

  • I think they should be.

  • I don't mean those clubs in particular.

  • I think clubs in general should be giving a lot more, and they should be.

  • They should be responding to this crisis by by helping and they talk of themselves community clubs.

  • I think they need to They need to put some money into the situation as well.

  • They're two elements of this.

  • I mean, the players who are increasingly contributing to society.

  • T o N hs in this in this crisis period and a lot of them do anyway, I'm a love them have foundations.

  • Marcus Rashford.

  • You know, he's being often leading a lot of this stuff on this, so But if you're a player, particularly at the elite end, and then you go and look at your club.

  • So this is why you have to divide it between player and club and you see your club and say, Take Manchester United, for example.

  • You see the Glazers taking money out on the money that they will make eventually when they sell Manchester United on the back of obviously, Ferguson's genius on now social getting them going again.

  • Andi players that they've got on the work of the players and the staff from the merchandising and all that sort sign.

  • The players will quite rightly say, Okay, we may have to take a cut, but all the Glazers you know, it's not just the mention.

  • I think you know this is an issue with all the clubs whose owners, um, making money out of the work of the the place.

  • But I think increasingly what you'll see is the players.

  • Whether they know whether the PF A actually come around to this.

  • I'm not so sure.

  • But whether they where they just contribute Maur individually well, maybe collectively they do it through the p f A.

  • But to actually argue for players to take a wage cut which we've been doing for years and years when the clubs are also making so much profit, I think the clubs have to make the first move.

  • Monk Palios, former FAA chief executive course now at Tranmere, owns club there, says that plays will have to take a cut in the two issues here on there.

  • There's the society donating to your local community.

  • When you're on a huge amount of money, that's different.

  • We could come on to that further in a little bit, but first of all in terms of propping up the game because we've got a football pyramid pyramid in this country which were very, very proud of only the facts that we have.

  • Yes, we have the elite, but then we're very proud of having a ll the division's below.

  • That leaves one leads to, but also below that very strong National League and non league do plays towards the top end.

  • So we include the championship in.

  • That's what its premiere league are.

  • They gonna have to give up some of their wages to prop up the lower end.

  • Will they do it voluntarily?

  • Will be a club by club basis.

  • Or will it be a case of the Premier League?

  • Or will it be the P f A coordinating and saying you will need to take a percentage cut?

  • A CZ mark actually, rightly says they probably have think about this or else they might have an industry to go into, or rather the same industry, because I think there is a bigger issue here.

  • I mean, the optimistic view is essentially that this brings out more solidarity both in the game on society.

  • But a real danger is actually did this further splits the game.

  • I mean, there has been an issue coming for some time.

  • We're so much money is propped awards, the top end and the super clubs that eventually some sort of split is coming because so many games more predictable that you know that there's always interest pushing some sort of Super league.

  • While this situation short encouragement.

  • Worse already, the danger actually years that it leads to so many clubs potentially going out of business.

  • If there isn't some action that we just have this situation by default where we certainly got a super re numerator top end a huge gap on then almost some sort of a huge kind of almost same repression platform.

  • I think that that is potentially.

  • This could do as well that it just moved us further down the path to a Super League.

  • We've also got to explain to the clubs and for them to appreciate this statistic that when Gareth Southgate went to the World Cup in Russia, 20 of the 23 players had the F L experience, whether it in through the F L competitions on loan or in so the case of Raheem Sterling actually coming up through the ranks of the academy.

  • A Q p r.

  • So many other players went on non league as well and just taking on this point, I mean what we're focusing heavily on the Premier League on the championship league one and lied to and lied wanted Thio lied to.

  • It's unfortunately may take a hammering.

  • Um, National League why they played on front of the weekend was crazy.

  • But you look at the finances, their their suggestions in the papers a day that they need £20 million to keep them going.

  • Those clubs.

  • But let's go down.

  • Let's go down even further.

  • Grassroots has had a dreadful winter with the weather battering dilapidated pictures.

  • Anyway, the FAA said about the only one in three pictures was really considered truly playable in a recent report.

  • What is gonna happen to grass roots club, which actually brings so many of these players through who then go on to the top?

  • So absolutely, the Premier League has got to start showing whether through solidarity payments, one of to the to the club's lower down the pyramid.

  • But also, let's look at the grass roots cop because if we're having those key grassroots clubs going out of business, you talk to the London Plainfield's foundations.

  • They are warning, you know, they're being going for 130 years.

  • They are warning about what is gonna happen to football in this country.

  • If grassroots is not looked looked at coming back, too.

  • It's all mixed point.

  • This is a cost, a brutal spotlight on many of the floors within within modern football.

  • But the Premier League has also got to think very practically on selfishly is that, as they invariably do, where they're going to get the players form.

  • You know, a little these clubs there on Hackney marshes.

  • Aaron, you know, the Northeast, the Northwest Thies, small clubs.

  • They've got to support them as well as looking at least one lead to win the championship.

  • Just before this this crisis hit, there were ongoing discussions in European football about the solidarity payments from you, eh?

  • For arrested and essentially, the morning rays from your Comedy Champions League on Europa League that go to non participating clubs because obviously demented morning you get from the you're becoming great.

  • It has created such a split in the game on the European leagues were arguing that the figure they'd want for some sort of equity and football is 20%.

  • In the last round of discussions, that was around just over a present on fire from actually increasing it.

  • What actually happened was it went down to think about 7.5, so I can certainly it did.

  • This crisis exposes that as well and I are.

  • The club's gonna know something agreed that it should put pressure on them to do so.

  • When really talks about in his column today?

  • Another piece he does about United mention United right to keep paying their stuff.

  • The Premier League must follow the lead, and else talks about football needs to make sure it looks after those.

  • It depends on That also means Richard Club's helping the smaller ones, the Football League and below.

  • They're in danger of just going one way if money isn't set aside for them and then he talks about unless in America, of course, which she's that he's played.

  • And he says the premier Li could end up like MLS in America top league with almost nothing underneath it.

  • The reason there's no promotional relegation to molest is that teams below wouldn't survive if they went up, they couldn't afford the cost of playing there.

  • We don't want to go along that route.

  • I'm sure the FAA and the Premier League would do the right thing.

  • How do they do that?

  • Well, and should they do that?

  • I think we should do it.

  • I mean, you you mentioned before Jackie about how proud we are of our pyramid on dhe.

  • Um, you know, those of us who support I think those of us who support lowly clubs, obviously not only us we're all aware of it have have bean worrying about reckoning.

  • Coming for quite some time on dhe, if again, if you listen, people aren't haven't suddenly started talking about this.

  • Now, if you listen to the voices out there, both the guys will know, you know, and the whole who's that back into the Stanley is one of the most vocal on DDE.

  • Excellent off chairman at Akron.

  • Since Stanley, you know his he has bean talking and pleading for a long time for better financial redistribution.

  • And I think, sure, the Premier League does do solidarity payments and it does help.

  • But Henry made a very good point about the number of players from the Premier League who have come through are lower leagues.

  • You know they are sorry.

  • It's a cliche.

  • They are the life blood of football are lower leagues.

  • They are also incredibly important to their communities.

  • And I I don't think, and I've thought this for a long time that the Premier League does enough to help.

  • I know that I know that some clubs don't help themselves, and I know that some lowly clubs aren't well manage financially, but even the ones that are up against it, like never before.

  • And I think those of us who you have kind of who feared, who fear that kind of erosion of the 92 you know this magical number that we've had for a long time in English football 92 is no longer 92 anymore.

  • Anyway, we're down to 91 because of of Barry going out business.

  • But I think that there is a there is a real danger that they are.

  • They are in such a pile of state, some of those clubs in our lower leagues that a crisis like this, um, could also have a have a horrendous knock on effect for these lowly clubs and could push puts a lot of them to the wall.

  • It was good what the year fell did the other day, so I just quit projecting what they did because the F L deserved praise on this, they said, you know, launch a media £50 million package when you actually divide it down and you look at the letter they sent to the clubs and what clubs were actually able to apply for.

  • Part of it was in advance of payments, and part of it was an interest free loan.

  • If your league one club, I think that meant about 280 grand now.

  • Okay, so that is a lot.

  • But we were discussing earlier.

  • We don't know how long this crisis is gonna be going on for on how long the turnstiles are going to stay shot, which is absolutely key for revenue for a particular league.

  • One leak to It was a good thing, Henry, but it was It was money.

  • It was money that I mean, it's that money is money that they're gonna be Oh, getting absolutely The point was coming on to, you know, that might sustain them for a certain period.

  • But this is gonna go on longer.

  • So again, and you know, the f l don't have the resources to say they don't have a bottomless pit do that.

  • But also something Rick Perry pointed out was very, very grateful to the government.

  • Thio Chancellor Richie Soon AC for the measures that he's made because he said they will make a huge difference to them, that something perhaps will help the game out.

  • We haven't really talked about it.

  • We don't think about the government helping football.

  • But of course I put a cap on it.

  • But in terms of retaining staff is a big things is not all about footballers.

  • But if your government your main priority now your priority 12345 is actually investing and pouring money into the n h s and helping them out on keeping this this this country and that you know, the n hs going.

  • Why would you think of football, which is the wealthier sport in the country?

  • Coming to you, cap in hand and saying Help us out?

  • Football has enough money.