Levy / ENIC

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No, it's not. Because if they are not furloughed they will be made redundant. That's what you do when there is NO work and NO revenue. I've unfortunately had to do this a few times over the past 30yrs or so, I've never had the luxury of having to furlough staff though, just bin them off.
Is every non furlouging club making all their staff redundant?
 
I still believe Levy's motive of furloughing staff paid under £30k pa (HMG limit of £2.5k per month) was to highlight nationally the issue of players pay not being reduced

Levy's announcement was made after March payroll was paid, certainly be interesting to see what happens before April payroll is run, especially if a deal is done with players. Wouldn't surprise me if Levy does reverse the decision, if his action resolves position regarding player wages..

Meanwhile Spurs are helping out in the community (loaning medical staff to NHS, loaning stadium for use as foodbank store/distribution centre etc) which is why when Sadiq Khan wrote to London based clubs Chelsea, Woolwich, Wham Fulham and lower league clubs he made the point he was asking them to do things making the point Spurs were already doing more than he was asking them to do.

Lets see how things play out before making a final judgement.
Mr Levy the lone gunslinger taken on over privileged greed infused players.
Saintly Levy saving mankind.

The man is morally and legally financially corrupt.
This whole affair has shown that Levy ENIC are a stain on the club. He's on the same level as a Mike Ashley while our bond villain floats the world in luxury admiring a billion pounds worth of art while Rome burns.

Dude we ain't on that boat.
 
Use furlough. The government scheme allows it.

The moral side of it is the problem here for many. Not just on this forum but through out the country. Football is a business. We all get that. Is it a business like any other in the UK. That is debatable.


But if you do use the scheme then you can pay the 20% difference out of your pocket to help the little guy. The one who will be struggling most in all this.
Levy / Lewis / ENIC whoever could do that. What is it £1m over 3 months. (The length of the scheme currently). Other football clubs are doing this. Other companies outside of football are doing this.


So done with the club right now. But at the end of the day Just some men running around on grass. Bigger things in the world at the moment.
 
Is every non furlouging club making all their staff redundant?
You mean the same clubs that are run so terribly.



Supporters of these Clubs are be shitting themselves that there's a genuine chance they will go under, what with having ZERO revenue (and wages bills upwards of 50% of revenue) and all.

But hey, lets applaud them, in fact instead of clapping for the NHS on Thursday night let's come out and applaud those clubs that don't turn profits (therefore don't pay tax that goes to the likes of the NHS), let them know that they are doing a great running their clubs into the ground. Good for them, their supporters and the wider local community.
 
Sports are a unique venture in that owners should not expect to make a sustainable profit every year. It's designed to be a toy for rich people, to put it bluntly, and ideally rich people who want to win things to stroke their ego. So expectations of what to expect from owners will differ from a traditional business.

In an ideal world, Spurs never turn a profit yet run sustainably, in the long run. Yes, profits and losses occur, but over time they should even out. And in instances of extraordinary circumstance, there is additional capital ready to be invested from said owner.
Unless a deliberate ploy for something/someone is to "sportswash" their grubby dubious dealings no investment is made in sport without a looking at what the return for that investor is, be that in cash, advertising, commercial sponsorship, every pound invested has a desired outcome or value. These range from cleaning reputations, sales in other ventures, or simply being the best at your Sport. The latter driving & accelerating all the pieces too.

A well-run business should be self-sustaining, able to deal with what the market is doing. A billionaire owner has no need to inject capital into a well-run business that is dealing with the issues it's facing. Only at the end, to protect their investment will a judgement be made on whether to do that or not. So if a firm date is slated for a return to football and therefore revenue a considered decision can be made on whether an injection is required to improve it's position competitively and/or if it genuinely needs it to keep it afloat to reach that date.

A well-run business can navigate challenging market conditions, maybe even see it as a longer-term opportunity as competitors less well-run fall by the wayside. The bottom line is Sport is a business and they are run as such, even governing bodies and associations.
 
Something being legally acceptable doesn't mean it's not morally repugnant.

You could use the same logic to justify anything - 'They should avoid paying tax because the loop holes are there'.
The furlough scheme isn't a loophole for fucksake.

So just who should receive furlough scheme fella? Are employees of a football club any different to a reporter at a Newspaper, a Shopfloor worker in a car plant, a Hotel Cleaner, a Hotel receptionist an Airline pilot or steward or a member of ground staff? Maybe they are different to the chef in the cafes, bars & restaurants.

What makes Sue who works in the Spurs shop so different to Jane in Debenhams?
 
Extract from interview with the Burnley Chairman. When you compare this to the attitude of Levy and Lewis is summarises perfectly why ENIC need to sell up and leave. They have no moral compass.

Premier League chairman: Mike Garlick Burnley

Our players do a great job for us as a club and for the community. They probably do their own things on top that I’m not aware of. They are intelligent people. We will not be unilaterally trying to impose things on any players. If they decided to help us in any way we’d be grateful but we wouldn’t think any less of them if they didn’t. It’s as simple as that. But talks are ongoing.


The absolute worst-case, doomsday scenario is that we don’t finish the season and there is no new season in sight
We’ve taken the decision, certainly short-to-medium term, that we will fund non-playing staff. We will not be furloughing them. If we get to July and the season hasn’t restarted, and the next season isn’t looking like it is going to start, that’s a different position and we might have to revisit it. But at the moment we are going to be funding that ourselves. The absolute worst-case, doomsday scenario is that we don’t finish the season and there is no new season in sight.

I personally don’t think it will come to that. I think we will start when it’s safe to do so. We need to start but if we didn’t then we’ve got some resources at the club. I’m confident we will get through it, we are not going to go bust, but it’s not going to be easy.

Mike Garlick was speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live
 
Extract from interview with the Burnley Chairman. When you compare this to the attitude of Levy and Lewis is summarises perfectly why ENIC need to sell up and leave. They have no moral compass.

Premier League chairman: Mike Garlick Burnley

Our players do a great job for us as a club and for the community. They probably do their own things on top that I’m not aware of. They are intelligent people. We will not be unilaterally trying to impose things on any players. If they decided to help us in any way we’d be grateful but we wouldn’t think any less of them if they didn’t. It’s as simple as that. But talks are ongoing.



We’ve taken the decision, certainly short-to-medium term, that we will fund non-playing staff. We will not be furloughing them. If we get to July and the season hasn’t restarted, and the next season isn’t looking like it is going to start, that’s a different position and we might have to revisit it. But at the moment we are going to be funding that ourselves. The absolute worst-case, doomsday scenario is that we don’t finish the season and there is no new season in sight.

I personally don’t think it will come to that. I think we will start when it’s safe to do so. We need to start but if we didn’t then we’ve got some resources at the club. I’m confident we will get through it, we are not going to go bust, but it’s not going to be easy.

Mike Garlick was speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live
It's the difference between seeing us as Hotspur (London) Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. A club is an artificial extended family. We should act like one and look after the most vulnerable members thereof
 
It's the difference between seeing us as Hotspur (London) Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. A club is an artificial extended family. We should act like one and look after the most vulnerable members thereof
With the profit we made from last years champions league alone we should be able to pay full time and part time staff. And if we need to sell a player to balance the books so be it.
 
It's the difference between seeing us as Hotspur (London) Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. A club is an artificial extended family. We should act like one and look after the most vulnerable members thereof

Agree Bill Madrid Bill Madrid

Can understand the business going for furlough from a financial perspective. It's there to be used. This could go on for a long time.

But there's more to this than it just being a PR disaster. It doesn't sit right with me morally as I don't believe we have done enough to protect one another as a Spurs family. I would like to have thought the super rich would step in to support our lowest paid staff, even in the meantime. Also, their first instinct was to approach the taxpayer for support, in a time of economic uncertainty when very many businesses of all sizes will be struggling. That decision doesn't sit right with me. Are we - Spurs - still an "us", or is this something different?
 
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I’m torn on this.

On one hand, I really dislike the hypocrisy of people who are ardent supporters of capitalism until the industry of football gets mentioned. With that in mind, ownership is definitely within their legal rights to use the scheme to protect their business.

However there’s the moral issue. Our majority shareholder is a tax evading billionaire, the club has turned a massive profit for the last 2 years, and the wages-to-turnover ratio is much lower than our competitors. The club is based in one of the poorest wards in the entire country, and I would assume is a big employer of locals . The optics, PR, an erosion of local goodwill make this so, so bad.

Levy was right in his statements that these aren’t normal times and things will be different once this is over, but I think the club board has completely misread the mood of the room.

There’s also the issue of being seen to be trying to back players/coaches into a corner and hanging them out to dry.
 
Nothing.

So let’s stop pretending we’re any different.

Would you say you ‘support’ Debenhams?
That's EXACTLY what my take is! We are NO different from any other company, large or small, that has PAYE staff that are furloughed rather than made redundant, the scheme has been invented for precisely the reason we are using it for. EVERY company should be using it for staff on PAYE who's roles have become redundant as a consequence of COVID-19.

What the fuck has "support" got to do with staff having no work due to COVID-19?
 
That's EXACTLY what my take is! We are NO different from any other company, large or small, that has PAYE staff that are furloughed rather than made redundant, the scheme has been invented for precisely the reason we are using it for. EVERY company should be using it for staff on PAYE who's roles have become redundant as a consequence of COVID-19.

What the fuck has "support" got to do with staff having no work due to COVID-19?

The difference is that I have absolutely zero emotional investment in high street stores. I might (actually I do) have a predilection for Marks and Spencer’s delicious men’s knitwear, but I do not ‘expect’ anything from them. They are a neutral service provider. They can neither impress me or disappoint me.

As Bill Madrid Bill Madrid suggests, it comes down to whether you think Spurs are ENIC holding company or Tottenham Hotspur FC.

For us to care about the club, we have to think it’s the latter. And, as such, I hold the latter to a higher standard.

Nothing you say is technically incorrect. But I would suggest that if we talk about the ‘spirit’ of a club, they are in a position to support their staff without any assistance.
 
I’m torn on this.

On one hand, I really dislike the hypocrisy of people who are ardent supporters of capitalism until the industry of football gets mentioned. With that in mind, ownership is definitely within their legal rights to use the scheme to protect their business.

However there’s the moral issue. Our majority shareholder is a tax evading billionaire, the club has turned a massive profit for the last 2 years, and the wages-to-turnover ratio is much lower than our competitors. The club is based in one of the poorest wards in the entire country, and I would assume is a big employer of locals . The optics, PR, an erosion of local goodwill make this so, so bad.

Levy was right in his statements that these aren’t normal times and things will be different once this is over, but I think the club board has completely misread the mood of the room.

There’s also the issue of being seen to be trying to back players/coaches into a corner and hanging them out to dry.
This is where football (or most sports for that matter) becomes weird. It ticks all the boxes. It's about community and camaraderie since it is a sporting club. It brings people together under the banner of supporting the team and being part of something bigger than yourself. But at the same time it is also a multi million industry with massive sums of money changing hands every day and continous political games between players, agents, clubs and more going on behind the scenes. Obviously the people working within football are going to see it as a job/business, they have to, particularly at this level.

A lot of clubs like to say that they are more than a club, but at some point the higher up the food chain you go that starts to be just as much about marketing as it is about actually being more than a club.

Can I understand the people working within the multi million business that is the club looking to ensure financial stability during a tumultuous time? Yes.

Can I understand those of us that are just here to support the football club that is part of this multi million industry feeling angry/shocked/disappointed over how the business is behaving? Also yes.
 
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