To say No to football handouts

[blagaaw99]

Aibu to say No to football handouts?!

There shout be no bail out of football clubs.

Most in the lower divisions weren't viable before Covid due to excessive spending encouraged by fans, who then cry when they go bankrupt.

If some clubs go bust, they will re-emerge as more grass roots orientated organisations.

Lower league clubs in England and the majority of Scottish clubs including the top flight are struggling or will go under

Whether you are a football fan or not this is the main source of income for these guys and their families so why should they not be able to get government help

Also a football club isn’t just about the players it’s about the kit people/ physios etc so many people loose jobs if clubs go under

For me it's not about football, just about where do we stop with what we expect the government to support. We are creating huge national debt, well increasing it anyway. We can't support everything.

Not against supporting anyone or anything, more worried about the perception that we can just keep printing money. It's a worry for our children to have this to sort out.

Appreciate everyone needs supporting through this though.

And when will covid be over?

@ZoeTurtle

If you start a discussion thread you should contribute more than badly punctuated one-liners.

Thanks for letting me know the rules zoe

When I heard it all I could think of was the ridiculous amount of money that players earn, and how they should cover it. The figure I heard was that 10% of local clubs would be lost, well in light of everything else that's going on 10% seems pretty minimal.

It's not as if a club is a requirement for people to exercise their right to play, all they need is a pitch and a ball. There are way more important things for Government funds to be spent on.

The problem is it would end up very shortsighted if we just let otherwise viable businesses go out of business. All those staff won’t walk straight into another job so we will end up with a massive increase in unemployment which economically would be much worse long term than helping companies who will be able to bounce back when things are able to pick up again to do so whether that is with grants, loans or a mix of the two.

You don’t know what you’re on about OP.

Grassroots football and lower leagues are huge parts of communities. They offer paid employment and voluntary experience on top of the obvious sport/ fitness side of things. They have special needs teams and give kids that would otherwise be sat at home something to do. They help build confidence and teach so much more than ‘kicking a ball of air around’. Women’s football is really starting to take off and can’t continue to do so without funding.

Stop letting your bitterness at a few extremely wealthy people (who happen to be the best in the world at what they do so obviously earn tons) get in the way of you understanding the actual situation.

This just demonstrates in a high profile way that more support is required for sectors that are still seriously affected by Covid restrictions.

There should be help for lower level football clubs so they can continue to employ their staff but this needs to be on the same basis as support for theatres, music venues, etc.

There is probably also an argument for pressing the FA to reform so that the top clubs are required to contribute to support the sport as a whole. A little like the horseracing levy contributes to veterinary science.

This might also be interesting to some of you-

www.premierleague.com/news/1647358

www.premierleague.com/communities/plcf

It obviously doesn’t specify individual players but so many donate thousands to charity.

@Lexilooo

This just demonstrates in a high profile way that more support is required for sectors that are still seriously affected by Covid restrictions.

There should be help for lower level football clubs so they can continue to employ their staff but this needs to be on the same basis as support for theatres, music venues, etc.

There is probably also an argument for pressing the FA to reform so that the top clubs are required to contribute to support the sport as a whole. A little like the horseracing levy contributes to veterinary science.

Thanks for this, all good thoughts and sound reasonable to me.

@blagaaw99

And if you think we should support do you pay tax?

Disgusting comment. So you think people who are currently on benefits don't have the right to an opinion?

Just because something isn't important to you doesn't mean it isn't important. Football clubs do a lot of really important charity work in lower income areas of society, but I suppose that doesn't matter because a lot of those people aren't tax payers so they arent of any value to you either are they OP?

Benefits didn't cross my mind. I don't know where all the money will come from that everyone wants the government to spend, can anyone answer that? I wonder whether those who want the government to support everyone and everything understand budgets and that there isn't a money tree.

You don’t need to be so patronising of those who don’t agree with you.

People can understand budgets perfectly well and still understand that sometimes the outlay needs to be made for long term gain and stability. The more people who end up unemployed the bigger the long term problems are going to be both from a financial POV and a health POV.

"The figure I heard was that 10% of local clubs would be lost, well in light of everything else that's going on 10% seems pretty minimal."
10% is thousands of jobs. That's no minimal.

@blagaaw99

Benefits didn't cross my mind. I don't know where all the money will come from that everyone wants the government to spend, can anyone answer that? I wonder whether those who want the government to support everyone and everything understand budgets and that there isn't a money tree.

So what was the purpose of asking if people responding were tax payers then OP?

In what way was that possibly relevant to your original question other than to insinuate that only tax payer's opinions were valid?

Patronising when you don't have the first idea of what you're talking about is not a good look.

Smaller football clubs do not pay high wages, and many play a pivotal role in their communities, supporting young people in particular. Is that not worth saving to you?

For me it's not about football, just about where do we stop with what we expect the government to support

I'm not even a football fan but the government is stopping them totaling money due to its policies so why shouldn't it pay out.

@letmethinkaboutitfornow

YANBU Just NO! Premier League and FA can pay if they want to but no more tax payers money on the imaginary money tree! 😡

The FA is a not for profit which has lost all match day revenue from the FA cup and England games.

We should be funding them - it’s the biggest sport in the country and they support thousands of adults and kids in staying fit and active. They save the NHS millions every year.

Each premier league player can adopt several small clubs and keep them going with their vulgar salaries they get for kicking a bag of air round a field

Excellent idea!

My DS plays for Chelmsford City who are in the national league
Almost all of their money comes from the gate and since the announcement that there will be no fans in the stadium come the start of the league in Oct, it’s debatable how long they can carry on
They have continued to pay their players all through the lockdown, and the staff and are trying to raise money through additional sponsorship
Just because it’s football, doesn’t mean that real people aren’t involved, people are happy to see money go to theatres etc but hey, football is just a working class game with players paid overinflated wages, right? So who cares if the smaller clubs go under and many people lose their jobs

Not while the footballers are paid millions Imo.

But smaller clubs, yes footballers and facilities ground staff etc should be supported, but not to the amounts that footballers get paid.

I have often thought that the professions like acting, music and football which see huge salaries, those huge earners should be the ones supporting the poor support staff and ground roots facilities which feed their industries.

Just pay the rich fuckers a lot less and give the money to the struggling clubs.

There are far too many anyway. No public money should be used. It's an incredibly rich sport.

@maddening

I have often thought that the professions like acting, music and football which see huge salaries, those huge earners should be the ones supporting the poor support staff and ground roots facilities which feed their industries.

A group of actors have set up such a fund.

Nothing from the greedy footballers, though, and they earn a lot more.