ON THE BRINK
Financial disaster is looming for Football League clubs facing another six months playing without their fans
THE footballing world spent last weekend in uproar at a succession of controversial penalties awarded for handball. Social media went into meltdown, with pundits, fans and former players queuing up to claim ‘the game’s gone’ over VAR and the new interpretation of the rule.
Football evokes strong feelings and the handball rule needs fixing, but can we please see as much passion for the clubs outside the Premier League struggling to survive right now?
I am one of the lucky few that can attend games, as a member of the media, but I almost have a sense of guilt about it. I try and do my job reporting as best as I can, yet it seems so unjust fans cannot be there as well, in a safe way.
As Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling said in a club statement, how is it we can eat and drink inside a pub but not sit outside, distanced, in a stadium? It is not realistic in a pandemic to expect capacity crowds but a few thousand could make a difference between survival and going bust for many clubs this season.
The pilot events, as far as reported, went well. When I went to Forest Green for Sky Sports News, owner Dale Vince explained to me the benefit of 1,000 fans was negligible but more would be worth it. However, the government has said no fans, possibly for up to six months. A bitter blow to clubs who had prepared so diligently and invested to get fans back through the gates.
The impact this is having cannot be overstated. Financially, it is crippling clubs from the Championship to League Two and that is without even going into the measures non-league clubs must use to get games on.
A letter co-signed by 17 people, including former Football Association
‘It’s hardly fair the clubs who rely on fans currently exist on nothing’
chairmen Lord Triesman and Greg Dyke, was sent to culture secretary Oliver Dowden asking for emergency funding for sides outside the top flight.
The letter calls for a ‘cultural recovery fund’ for football, much like the £1.5billion made available to arts and cultural organisations put at risk. The government has helped the arts so can it not help football too? It has been working with the Premier League and the EFL to try to find a solution.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche is not sure it should be down to the top flight to fill the financial blackhole.
‘If the Premier League can do their bit to enhance the chances of other teams surviving, possibly they may step in,’ he said. ‘But does that mean every hedge-fund manager who is incredibly successful does that – filter down to the hedge-fund managers who are not so successful?
‘Does it filter down to restaurants, so the ones who are surviving can look after the ones who are not surviving?’
While Dyche has a point, it is hardly fair the Premier League can take in vast amounts of television money while clubs who rely on fans through the gates currently exist on nothing.
Those teams may one day swap places with Burnley, so clubs need to help each other right now in a neverseen-before situation.
Tottenham fans showed that spirit in abundance. After their game at Orient in the Carabao Cup was cancelled, shirt sales rocketed as they purchased in their droves to try to offset the £125,000 the League Two club lost in TV money. It showed fans truly cared and I honestly think most supporters recognise the importance of the 72 teams outside the Premier League.
Currently, the closest EFL fans can get to their teams is watching iFollow coverage. Newport chairman Gavin Foxall told me of the impact Covid is having and how he planned to navigate the club through these times.
‘The biggest impact is not being able to have fans through the turnstile as this represents around 40 per cent of our income. I am ever hopeful the football community and government will provide a level of support that reflects its importance not just to football but the wider community.’
Newport play Mansfield this weekend, fresh from the boost of receiving £125,000 Sky television money for reaching the fourth round of the Carabao Cup against Newcastle but the agony of a penalty shoot-out exit means even more to a club that has had to see staff job cuts already.
As Foxall said, a club reaches much further than a matchday. It is embedded in a community from a social outlet for fans to helping in schools and teaching through football in academies. Thousands of lives will be affected if clubs cannot carry on.
Plymouth play Hull in League One this weekend where a brand new stand built by the hosts, which should be filled with spectators, lies empty. Instead, the NHS are using part of it on a rolling monthly contract.
Chief executive Andrew Parkinson told me ticketing and hospitality form 70 per cent of their revenue. ‘We can’t afford to continue to operate in this