Week 14: Your True Colours, Shining Through
This COVID-19 crisis has managed to polarises the UK as much as Brexit did. Thankfully though, this time it’s not a fifty/fifty split. But like Brexit, it does really expose the good, bad and the ugly.
Millions of us are doing the right thing, such as staying indoors, social distancing, applauding the NHS, helping those more vulnerable or contributing in other ways as people continue to die with the virus at an alarming rate across the world. Of course, there are also some that aren’t and they know who they are; domestic abuse, gathering in large groups, ignoring the measures in place or even, in extreme and inexplicable cases, acting despicably by vandalising emergency vehicles or coughing in people’s faces.
It was once thought that plagues were sent as some form of punishment for the ills of mankind, or nature’s way of culling the population. In the modern world, they are clearly sent to show us which people and businesses are decent and which ones are a shower of shite.
Organisations are going out of their way to be one or the other. Have you seen the influx of emails from everyone from Aldi to Zara telling us how they are looking after us and each other? Actions speak louder than words though and some are showing the way by continuing to pay staff or converting what they do to help in some other way (delivering food, or manufacturing medical equipment, for instance).
Inevitably, some have chosen a different path. Companies have fired staff without even waiting to see what support they were going to get. Some have even used the virus as an excuse to get rid of people. Mega-corporations and individuals of previous good name (ahem, Richard Branson) sullied their reputation by pleading poverty and asking for government help and his VA employees to take eight week’s unpaid leave. (Note, anyone with their own island should always tread carefully when doing this).
Sir Richard has tried to backtrack a little with a £215m cash injection but it’s mainly PR disaster recovery, a little like Sports Direct owner Mike Ashely’s grovelling apology (which 99% of people who responded to a radio poll said was insincere and only done to try to save face.)
On a smaller, but no less scandalous scale, there was also the communications company (Hospedia) wanting to charge £10,000 per month to Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust so they could let isolated patients talk to loved ones by telephone. They are no better than the convenience store owner buying hundreds of loo rolls from Costco then flogging them for a quid each back at their own store.
And somewhere in the middle of all of this stands football.
On the weekend when they ran a virtual Grand National, football in England was virtually shooting itself in the foot. And it has found its own novel way to naturally separate the wheat from the chaff.
How Fur-Low Can You Go?
When it was announced that the treasury was backing hundreds of billions in loans and payments to help beleaguered businesses and their employees, I think we all suspected that it was smaller ones, with limited cashflow and reserves who would be the main beneficiaries, and not the likes of Next (who nevertheless still issued a ‘warning’ that they faced big issues as their pre-tax profits were only £728.5m in the year to January).
So, I think it came as a surprise when Newcastle, Tottenham, Norwich and Bournemouth announced they would be claiming 80% of wages for non-playing staff from the government’s coffers – while paying their players the full amount; in the case of Spurs that’s an average of £60K per week – quite a lot when you can only leave the house to get essential supplies, crash your Land Rover or host a sex party).
When champions-elect and currently best team in the world, Liverpool, then announced they were doing the same, the PR wheels truly ground to a halt.
Although, you do wonder if any of the clubs will be able to access the money anyway, as on Friday less than a thousand ‘government back loans’ had been approved from 130,000 enquires.
Contrast with Italy, one of the worst hit coronavirus nations in the world, where Juventus announced their players were taking a four-mouth pay freeze during the lockdown. This will mean that the club can continue to pay the wages of non-playing staff during their enforced inactivity. Bayern, Dortmund and especially Union Berlin have done the same.
The decision to use the scheme in Britain have been met with disdain from most. In Liverpool’s case, even ex-players Jamie Carragher and Stan Collymore, as well as many of their loyal fans, called it a terrible move.
Daniel Levy, at Spurs, was accused of damaging the Premier League’s reputation after cutting the wages of 550 staff and furloughing others on the same day as it was revealed his £4m salary as boosted by £3m for completing the £1bn new stadium – the bonus clearly not linked to ‘completing it on time. ‘
MPs accused football of operating in a moral vacuum – you know it’s bad if MP accuses you of that – and one PL chairman said, ‘He’s a smart man but this wasn’t a smart move’ as the annual Spurs accounts show revenues of £460m in 2019 and profits of £68m.
Fans didn’t like it either, with several groups expressing dismay. The fact the players were remaining on full pay wasn’t the club’s decision to make anyway as this has to be agreed via the PFA, but that cut little ice. It was – to borrow a media parlance – not a good look for football.
It takes some going to make a move that saves only around £1m, but manages to upset rival fans, your own fans, ex-managers, other clubs, Harry Redknapp, the government and even people who have no interest in football. I was telling a friend about it and he said, ‘I wish you hadn’t told me as it’s made my blood boil’ and he doesn’t even know anything about the game or any of the teams or players.
He wouldn’t know who Harry Kane was if he walked up to him in the street…and stood two metres away, of course.
But at this stage, the players had been unwittingly dragged into the debate and everyone wanted a say.
The government – with seemingly nothing better to do – talked about Premier League players ‘setting an example and doing their bit by taking a pay cut.’ Gary Neville said he wished he were a player again for a few minutes, presumably to tackle Matt Hancock even harder than he did when he said he had a cheek to be questioning footballer’s wages when he couldn’t even arrange to get anywhere near enough ventilators or protective gear for the crippled hospitals. You know how the old saying goes; people who don’t order enough ventilators shouldn’t tell others to take a pay cut.
This was followed by the Premier League, looking as if they wanted to make the first move, saying it hoped players would all take a 30% cut, apparently without consulting those players.
If Wayne Rooney’s assertion that footballers were easy targets is correct, this was the example. In the fullness of time, the true extent of the mistakes made by the government in this crisis will be laid bare, but in the short term, I presume that these politicians will also be ‘taking a 30% pay cut’ themselves too.
Just to set a good example and, you know, do their bit.
Neville also said that the players were probably sorting something out themselves in response to the crisis.
Apparently this is correct, and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson has been at the forefront of action to make donations to the NHS, which is great but if there is a criticism, it’s that it took so long to announce that they allowed the government, PL, players, the PFA and everyone else to begin the war of words – and exacerbate an already escalating problem – without them having had a say.
Anything they do now looks reactionary in a ‘I was just about to do it’ manner a kid uses when asked to clean their bedroom for the umpteenth time. It also appears to be done under duress (although several players have used the phrase ‘their backs to the wall’ and, if trying to retain a sense of perspective, maybe they should try working on the NHS front line before they complain about finding themselves in a shitty position).
A fortnight ago, in this column, I suggested an emergency fund with the players contributing between 1% and 5% of their income to ensure that those most at risk (smaller clubs, non-playing staff etc) were more protected. Now, I’d be happy if they just formed a big call centre (working from home, obviously) to process some of these 130,000 business loan enquires that have been received, and maybe underwrite a few of them. Can you imagine calling and getting ‘Business Loan Helpline, Virgil Van Dyke speaking, how can I help you today?’
The PFA waded in over the weekend to add fuel to the raging fire. They warned that proposals for a 30% pay cut in the Premier League would be “detrimental to our NHS”. Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive and never one to sit on a massive salary while doing relatively little, says that £200m in taxes would be lost. But if PL players take a cut so that their clubs don’t use the government’s money in the first place, wouldn’t that be better for the NHS?
Rooney also said the players are in danger of becoming scapegoats. He describes their ‘no-win’ situation as disgraceful, and asks why it has been played out in the public domain when no one else’s salary or charitable obligations are. That’s a good question to be fair – we aren’t discussing all the bankers who earn millions.
As fantastic a gesture as it is, why do we know the West Brom CEO is taking a temporary 100% pay cut during this crisis? Because it’s been told to us, that’s why, and in one sense, it’s no different to those PR emails from Aldi and Zara telling us how great they are. I’m reminded of a line from Disney Executive Chairman, Bob Iger, or rather from his advisor who told him after he once felt the need to point something out to the media – ‘you know, the world doesn’t need to know…so keep your mouth shut.’
As of Monday morning, the players have begun talks on a club-by-club basis. The government – never knowing when to keep out – say they expect football authorities to ‘come together with an agreement urgently’ which by their standards means they can probably take several weeks to deliver about ten per cent of the solution.
They do say one thing that is pertinent though and that all parties should ‘think carefully about their next steps so that [the wages disagreement] doesn’t undermine the good work that sport – including football – is doing to help tackle coronavirus.’
Because that’s what is on the line here. This isn’t a storm in a teacup, it’s a massive global crisis that will take months and probably years to recover from and at some point, when football returns, it doesn’t want too many people to be thinking this way.
‘Supported [club] for 30 years now, but to be honest, if this is the way it’s going, not going to a match or watching on the box I’ll spend more time with my other half and daughter thank you. Or find another hobby. That’ll suit me fine. I love football, like we all do but these leaves a nasty taste.’
Possibly not the more eloquent, or grammatical, of all the comments made this weekend but probably one that resonates with a lot of fans right now.
This weekend the government also threatened to ban outdoor exercise (running, walking, cycling) if some people continued to ignore social distancing guidelines.
The key stakeholders at the top of English football take note, and not let the actions of a few make it so much harder for the many.
Next Time: No News Is Not Good News
words Darren Young, D3D4 columnist