Closed doors games would be hard for lower league
PLAYING matches behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic would deprive lowerleague clubs of their ‘lifeblood’ from ticket revenue, according to football finances expert
Dr Rob Wilson.
There is no talk yet of any Town games being played behind closed doors, with tomorrow’s home match with Burnley set to go ahead.
Sporting events continue to feel the impact of the virus, with many already cancelled across the globe.
The Premier League fixture between Manchester City and Arsenal on Wednesday was postponed as a ‘precautionary measure’ after Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis tested positive for Covid-19. Arsenal had hosted the Greek club on February 27.
Despite action from other European nations, as yet, the current domestic football schedule is set to proceed as planned this weekend.
Top-flight clubs may be able to absorb a loss of income from gate receipts if fans were not able to attend but Wilson, who is head of department in the Sheffield Business School at Sheffield Hallam University, feels those further down the football pyramid would be hit much harder.
“Matchday ticket revenue tends to be referred to as the lifeblood of clubs in the lower divisions. It is not like in the Premier League where there is this huge TV deal which props them up if they need it to,” Wilson said.
“Down in the lower divisions, the National League, then coming up from League Two into League One, it is those matchday revenues which are absolutely essential.
“If we look at the numbers, a Premier League club might lose something in the order of three or four million (pounds) a match. A lower league club might lose a few hundred thousand if a few matches got cancelled.
“Proportionally, though, that few hundred thousand to a lower-league club could well be 20 or 30 per cent of their annual turnover, and that is why it becomes so significant to them.
“That secondary economy which goes with any professional sporting fixture tends to be forgotten about, but there is also the wider impact on the local economy,” Wilson said.
DESPITE being Town’s first-choice centre-forward for much of the season, Fraizer Campbell has scored just twice – the same number as centre-back Christopher Schindler.
His last goal came in late November, he has played 15 times since then.
Meanwhile, Steve Mounie has become something approaching prolific in the second half of the season, scoring eight goals in his last 15 outings – only seven have which have been starts.
THIS time last year he was playing in the Premier League for Town.
Now, former loan midfielder Jason Puncheon is facing the lottery of a relegation play-off with his new club.
The 33-year-old has been playing for Pafos FC in the Cypriot First
On the face of things, there is an obvious change for manager Danny Cowley to make there – ditch Campbell to make way for Mounie.
But there is more to it than that. Despite Mounie’s current hot streak, Campbell offers more to the team as a whole than Mounie, and the numbers back that up.
In the 16 matches Campbell has started under Cowley, Town have picked up 1.4 points per game, scoring an average of 1.3 goals.
On the nine occasions Cowley has started Mounie, that drops to 1.3 points and 1.2 goals per game. That’s despite Mounie’s own strike rate (0.55 goals per start) far exceeding Campbell’s (0.13 goals per start). In short, although Mounie scores more goals, the rest of the team score a lot more when Campbell is playing, and the net effect of that is marginally better for the side as a whole up top. And we really do stress ‘marginal’ there.
Look at Town’s defensive stats, though, and Campbell’s value becomes clear. Town have shipped 1.8 goals per game when Mounie has started compared with 1.4 with Campbell in the first XI.
In fact, the hometown boy is Town’s only forward whose presence in the side typically heralds an improvement in their performance at the back, Mounie’s makes it worse.
Cowley would not be surprised to learn that even if the exactly stat came as news to him. The Terriers boss has spoken frequently about how impressively Campbell leads the press from the front, disrupting the opposition’s rhythm and forcing mistakes.
Just take a look at the only players who have made more tackles per game than Campbell this season.
Lewis O’Brien unsurprisingly tops the list, followed by Jonathan Hogg, Schindler, Harry Toffolo, Jaden Brown, Trevoh Chalobah, Danny Simpson, Juninho Bacuna – all players often deployed in defence or in deeper-lying midfield roles.
Campbell makes more tackles per 90 minutes than Mounie and Karlan Grant put together.
One name we have omitted from that list is the hard-working but limited Elias Kachunga, and his absence from the Town front line in favour of the more out-and-out-attacking Chris Willock only amplifies the somewhat unorthodox yet vital role Campbell plays.
That is not to take Campbell off the hook altogether. That goalscor ing return is still measly regardless of what he enables other players to do and irrespective of his defensive contribution; if he could at least double it before the end of the season, it could make a crucial difference in securing Town’s survival nice and early.
But it is not as simple as drawing your judgement on the top scorer charts alone.
Campbell makes more tackles per 90 minutes than Grant and Mounie
put together