The strange tale of two farewells
ENGLISH football bade farewell to two men last week: Wayne Rooney and Richard Scudamore.
Rooney, a former England captain, made a substitute appearance in the friendly win over the United States to win his 120th and final cap.
It was effectively a testimonial game for Rooney (now playing for DC United in the US) who hadn’t featured for the national side since November 2017. The match served as a fundraiser for the striker’s charitable foundation.
Forty-eight hours earlier in London, Richard Scudamore (about to step down as executive chairman of the Premier League) was the beneficiary of a rather remarkable fundraiser in his honour. The Premier League clubs came up with a £5mil (RM27mil) ‘golden farewell’ gesture for Scudamore.
Both the Rooney and Scudamore farewells were absurd spectacles.
There’s no question that Rooney served his country admirably, although I think he failed to fully realise his incredible potential. In fairness, that’s a statement that could be made about most of his peers in the ‘golden generation’ that consistently underwhelmed in major tournaments.
But the thing is, Rooney retired from international football.
The game moves on, and quickly. England have been in the semi-final of the World Cup since.
Apparently that success is hard to take for some in his generation.
Rooney said that ‘some ex-play- ers I’ve spoken to can’t come to terms with England doing well.’ That’s very sad and rather pathetic.
Rooney was given a rousing sendoff against the US at Wembley but I’m not sure what the point of it all was: one extra cap and a few extra claps from an appreciative support.
There won’t be too many supporters applauding Scudamore at the next game he attends. His £5mil payday hasn’t exactly endeared him to fans who accuse him of putting TV companies first and forcing them to contend with inconvenient kick-off times.
Let’s be clear, Scudamore was very good at his job and was deservedly very well paid for it (his salary was reportedly around £2.5mil including bonuses). The Premier League has boomed during his time at the top to become the preeminent global league.
But the final payoff is crass and excessive. It should be pointed out though that there doesn’t appear to be any suggestion that Scudamore demanded it or even requested it.
The fact that it was leaked to the media indicates that there was disquiet within the organisation about it. I’m sure the clubs weren’t too thrilled about being put on the spot in such a public way.
Many are said to be furious. It’s amazing to me that none of them came out more strongly against the proposal and took the very easy PR opportunity that the situation presented to do something more worthwhile.
For fans that feel the game is ‘all about money’ these days, this will become exhibit A.
As the Premier League has become a global brand, the money flowing into it has increased sub- stantially. EPL footballers (even pretty average ones) earn huge wages.
And I have no problem with that, they are the ones producing the ‘product’ that people want to pay for – including the many fans that complain about high ticket prices but still purchase them.
The question – as increasingly seems to be the case in football – is how much is too much? Scudamore deserves a lot but does he really deserve that extra £5mil? Rooney deserves respect for his England career, but did he really need to take the spotlight one more time last week?
The Premier League is wealthier, more slickly marketed and more global than when either Scudamore or Rooney joined it. But sometimes, less really is more.