Chief’s hopes for rethink

MORECAMBE co-chairman Rod Taylor hopes the coronavirus crisis will act as the catalyst for a long-awaited rethink of the way English football operates.

Morecambe, who sit 23rd in League Two, are among those trying to keep their head above water with no football - and therefore no income - until at least April 30.

And Taylor believes the period is highlighting issues that have been bubbling under the surface.

“The economy’s going to take a while to recover,” he said. “I think there might be ultimately a rethink. Alright, the Premiership earns the money let’s be clear, let’s not delude ourselves on that - but I don’t think that money is shared out as it should be.

“I think a lot of it just goes into massively inflated wages at the highest level. But also, as you go down the leagues, it’s certainly possible that wages are inflated there as well.

“Football income has dried up, that’s gone at the moment. We’ve nine games to play, there’s nothing coming in at all, because we’re not playing those games.

“Commercial income is drying up rapidly. Events have been cancelled. We’ve other things planned that will probably, because of the size, be cancelled, so funds that were in the cash flow there will just go out the window. Footballers’ contracts are bulletproof. They are absolutely watertight. There’s no way we can just say to them, we’re laying you off, go to the job centre. It doesn’t work like that.

“But we’ve also got a myriad of other staff as well, who we’ve got to look after.”