£ 200M THREAT TO EFL SEASON
Parry pleads for urgent re- think over ban on crowds
EFL chairman Rick Parry has urged the Government to re- think banning fans from games and robbing clubs of a £ 200million lifeline.
After fresh fears that matches will be behind closed doors until March, a “disappointed” and “deeply frustrated” Parry warned “the outlook for many clubs in the period ahead will be very challenging” if a solution is not found. He estimated the overall cost to EFL clubs of playing this season w without fans would be around £ 200m – on top of the £ 50m hit Championship, Leag League One and Two sides have already taken d due to Covid- 19.
Parry said: “As a matter of urgency we now need to un understand what the Government’s road roadmap is for getting supporters back into stadiums as soon as it is deemed safe to do so.”
WHEN Rick Parry first floated the idea of a “£ 200million hole” in football’s finances during a parliamentary evidence session on the impact of coronavirus on May 5, it was easy to dismiss it as doom- mongering.
After all, surely the worst was over? And football was already gearing itself up for a return.
But after that figure appeared in a formal statement from the EFL chairman on the day welcoming fans back to games was put back again indefinitely, two things stood out.
One, that the figure suddenly seems very, very real.
And secondly, it is still less than Chelsea have spent in the transfer market this summer.
There, in essence, is the widening chasm that the national sport is slowly being drawn into. Despite pleas from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for “sector- specific funding” to help the arts, music and live sport survive, the Government are less than keen.
Football is more than capable of generating the funds it needs to sustain itself even in the darkest of times thanks to broadcast deals that other businesses can only dream of.
It is just that the leading clubs choose to spend it on a handful of individual players. And their agents.
The hideously overblown transfer market that remains at the top is as painful to those further down the leagues as it is to the wider population forced to make difficult compromises on what was always normal life.
For EFL clubs, particularly those in Leagues One and Two, “normality” is the very lifeblood that drives their existence.
A pint before the game, pie at half- time, enduring the same hapless failings as last week and arguing about whose fault the whole thing is over another pint afterwards. For weeks up until Saturday, volunteers have been taping off sections, plotting routes and planning protocols so that seven fixtures could take place with fans present. By all accounts, it all went well.
Which is why getting wrapped up in a blanket response to national compliance issues has turned the light at the end of the tunnel into a very false dawn.
“Following the successful return of supporters to seven fixtures on Saturday, the EFL is disappointed at the decision to suspend plans for the return of fans to matches,” said Parry.
“Of course we recognise that the UK is facing a significant public health crisis and that sport has to play its part in helping the Government manage the spread of the virus at this difficult time.
“This is why over many months we’ve helped the Government devise, refine and pilot stringent stadium protocols designed to keep supporters safe.
“Staging professional football matches is one of the most heavily regulated areas of crowd management and any supporters attending EFL fixtures, in vastly reduced numbers, would have been required to adhere to social distancing and the rule of six.
“Therefore we’re deeply frustrated that we will not be able to continue this work and, in doing so, gather the evidence to show that crowds can return safely to football and become an important financial lifeline for our clubs.”
Because get one thing straight – clubs will go bust if the doors remain locked.
Unless the Government, the FA or the top- flight clubs find the mechanism to prise open that tiny trap door a little wider and finally allow enough cash to flow down into the lower tiers to keep the whole football family alive.
We’re deeply frustrated we can’t show that crowds are safe