WE HAVE HELPED YOU ENOUGH!

THE Premier League have defended their support for the grassroots game amid the coronavirus crisis.

Critics have accused English football’s top-flight of not doing enough to ensure their lower level brethren come through the challenging times of the last few months.

The grassroots topic was brought up by Clacton MP and FC Clacton patron Giles Watling when Premier League chief executive Richard Masters spoke, by video link, at a meeting of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee on Tuesday.

Watling said: “My local team Clacton are really struggling. The season ends in April and that’s when they start their fundraising for the rest of the year, but that’s all gone out of the window.

they’ve had the £10,000 grant which was distributed by the local council and other tiny grants of a few hundred pounds, but what is the Premier League doing to support those teams right down the bottom of the grassroots?”

Masters, pictured below, replied: “We have lots of commitments to various foundations, the Football Foundation being the main one.

“That’s obviously about grassroots and facilities, and we make a contribution of around £70m over three years.

“There is money coming down the pyramid to the grassroots game from the Premier

League via these various organisations.” Pressed by Watling as to whether this was sufficient, Masters insisted: “We do think we are doing enough. We are in a fast-moving situation and we have our own issues to address – and at the moment we are fixing them.

“There’s always an argument that more can be done. At the moment, we have had no specific requests from that part of the game and we continue to support at all levels despite our financial uncertainty and losses suffered. We continue to support all of our ongoing commitments.” One ben“Yes, eficiary from the Premier League is the National League, who are set to receive a £200,000 windfall to help fulfil their play-offs.

National League chief executive Michael Tattersall said: “We are pleased to receive the generous donation by the Premier League towards our end-of-season play-offs.”

Support

Meanwhile, clubs up and down the land are being encouraged to apply through the Football Foundation for a £500 Club Preparation grant.

The new £2.19m scheme will help football clubs and community organisations to prepare their facilities to safely reopen in line with government guidance around hygiene and social distancing.

The fund follows the £7m

Pitch Preparation Fund, which is benefiting 9,588 pitches and is a continuation of football and government’s support for clubs that have lost out on normal revenue streams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robert Sullivan, interim chief executive of the Football Foundation, said: “We had a great response to the recent Pitch Preparation Fund, with clubs welcoming our emergency support to get nearly 10,000 playing surfaces across the country match-fit.

“The Club Preparation Fund is a continuation of the support to assist the return of football by helping clubs prepare their buildings for the COVID-19 environment.

“Any organisations that need help should apply via footballfoundation.org.uk before the deadline of July 19.”