FROM VIRUS
PETERBOROUGH: Out-spoken Fry blasts: The FA needs to do something at grassroots level - instead it has kicked them in the b ******* and f ***** up the game
BARRY FRY has hit out at the FA with a typically passionate and foulmouthed accusation that they have let the game down in the wake of coronavirus.
The exasperated Peterborough director of football said: “The FA needs to do something for grassroots football – instead, it has kicked them in the b ****** s and f **** d up the whole game.” Fry (left), 75, who has spent more than six decades in football since signing as a trainee for Manchester United, has been outspoken on the problems in the game since the pandemic struck. “If the Premier
League had not fulfilled all the fixtures they would have been deep in the mire financially themselves,” he continued.
“But they did that 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 have declared that coronavirus is set to cost them an estimated £300million, but denied that a failure to get to grips with the Premier League was destroying grassroots football.
“The whole of football is working together – we all take it very seriously,” said an FA spokesman.
“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 such as Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth say they are lucky to be able to lean on wealthy owners.
Others such as Plymouth Argyle have already been told that the recent £3.5m cash injection by their owner and chairman Simon Hallett has to be the last.
Some do not have “sugardaddy” owners at all – raising fears that more clubs could go bust in the same way as Bury unless fans are allowed back in to watch games soon.
The EFL’s attempts to put a lid on spending by implementing a salary cap has met with a mixed response.
The general feeling among the clubs who responded was that the authorities are right to do something, but a fixed limit for each division is not a longterm answer.
“I support a wage cap philosophically,” said Plymouth CEO Andrew Parkinson. “But not this one. It should be based on revenue, not a flat rate.”
With regards to the shortterm, many are looking to the Government to step in.
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 bail out.
“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 football clubs are facing.”