The lower leagues needed a leg-up not a kick in the teeth
POSH CHIEF ACCUSES FA OVER COVID RESPONSE
BARRY FRY has said in a characteristically passionate and foul-mouthed outburst that the FA have let the game down in the wake of coronavirus.
The Peterborough director of football said: “The FA needs to do something for grassroots football – instead, it has kicked them in the b ******* and f ***** up the whole game.”
As preparations begin for the new season, Express Sport have surveyed senior executives at a number of League One and Two clubs.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Fry, 75, who has spent more than six decades in the game since joining Manchester United as a trainee, is one of the more outspoken.
He said: “If the Premier League had not fulfilled their fixtures they would have been deep in the mire financially themselves, but they did and saved themselves millions. So I would have thought they had a rescue plan in place.
“The FA, as the governing body, should have made sure there was a rescue package. If not, the responsibility for keeping the Premier League in check should be passed to somebody else.”
The FA say coronavirus will cost them an estimated £300million but denied that a failure to get to grips with the Premier League is destroying grassroots football.
A spokesperson said: “The whole of football is working together – we all take it very seriously.
“We have had to cut jobs and budgets but we have not stopped giving money and a lot of work has been done to get fans back.
“Everything we do goes back into the game and we remain fully committed to that.”
Like Peterborough, clubs including Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth have said they are lucky to be able to lean on wealthy owners.
Others such as Plymouth have already been told the most recent cash injection by owner and chairman Simon Hallett has to be the last.
Some don’t have “sugar daddy” owners – raising fears that more clubs could go bust like Bury unless fans are allowed back into games soon.
The EFL’s attempts to put a lid on spending by implementing a salary cap has met with a mixed response.
Most clubs who responded to our survey think the authorities are right to do something but a fixed limit for each division is not a long-term answer.
Plymouth chief executive Andrew Parkinson said: “I support a wage cap philosophically but not this one. It should be based on revenue, not a flat rate.”
Many are looking to the Government in the short term.
Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin said: “Football should not be treated any differently to other industries – and should be entitled to the same sort of bailout – not least because of the amount of money football has generated for the exchequer historically. “The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme is bailing out restaurants that are suffering because of social distancing – those are the same problems the football clubs are facing at the moment.”