The Impact of Covid on Spurs & Football

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KickHerInTheSponge said:
Go after billionaires not just millionaires. I think that's the players' point and it's a very fair one.

I think people are misunderstanding or misrepresenting (or maybe I am feel free to correct me). They're not saying the money should come from the club's finances. But from the pockets of the owners. That is absolutely the right thing to do.

But footballers are in the spotlight and many in the media/society see them as overpaid idiots with single digit brain cells whilst simultaneously being jealous that they're young, rich, athletic and worshipped. No let's not write articles about our fellow tax dodging private school m8s, hedge fund fucks, Tory donor scumbags etc, let's go after these working class background footballer cunts instead.

People want footballers to pay money because there are people in very shit situations who need help and footballers have lots of money.
Makes sense right?

Imagine making even richer people give their money.

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Certainly no problem with that.... Personally, the gist of my posts on the matter have been from the players upwards. I'm conscious of the fact that we don't know what some players (or owners) do or don't do behind the scenes.... However, I'm offended by the clubs going for a government bail out and sacking the minions in order to save a few quid the first chance they get.
 
Airfixx said:
Certainly no problem with that.... Personally, the gist of my posts on the matter have been from the players upwards. I'm conscious of the fact that we don't know what some players (or owners) do or don't do behind the scenes.... However, I'm offended by the clubs going for a government bail out and sacking the minions in order to save a few quid the first chance they get.
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I'm probably on the same page (I say probably as I find this a confusing issue as it's conflated as hell)

Ideally for me we'd start at the top with the wealthiest (owner's pockets).
And then yeah footballers too absoutely (along with all in society who earn similar or more).

When that is exhausted then it would be fair to talk about Furlough imo.

Football is rotten to the core though...
 
At this point I am kind of hoping that majority of the public give up on football at the top levels and walk away leaving the greedy owners , chairman , agents and footballers high and dry

Fans have always justified paying the exorbitant ticket prices by claiming they simply could not break the habit of going and supporting their team and watching a football match , well everyone is having to do that right now and will have to for the foreseeable future

Clear proof that we can survive without football

Won’t happen though , people will all come rushing back the day football starts up again while conveniently forgetting the disgusting behaviour Football has shown
 
It feels so easy to go after mostly working class lads who have essentially won the lotto.

Branson could easily afford to fund his firms and give the nhs millions upon millions and he would still be incredibly rich and yet the tories arent calling him out.

What about joe Lewis? Worth 4 billion is a tax exile , is he going to give up his wealth? I dont see the health secretary having a go at him.

One of the reasons I'm so wound up at spurs ' actions is because at a time like this people like lewis and levy should be stepping up and supporting society. They have done the exact opposite whilst throwing their employees under the bus.
 
Devanteswing said:
What about joe Lewis? Worth 4 billion is a tax exile , is he going to give up his wealth? I dont see the health secretary having a go at him.

One of the reasons I'm so wound up at spurs ' actions is because at a time like this people like lewis and levy should be stepping up and supporting society. They have done the exact opposite whilst throwing their employees under the bus.
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Agreed. Disgusted by the behaviour of football club owners. Even Liverpool are furloughing. Slightly better than our greedy fucks who wont even make up the difference for the staff.

Its stupid to ask the player to pay for the nonplaying staff. When our owners are billionaires, its the job of these disgusting fucks to pay. But Lewis just wants the money generated for him by the club, wont put anything back into it.
 
After the coronavirus problem has gone away, I would hope the various clubs demand the leagues put in place a far stricter version of FFP to stop clubs paying players ridiculously high wages - the current problem is that the player wages are so high that almost no club can survive a 3 - 6 month break without earning revenue by football taking place. FFP might even include certain mandatory clauses in players contracts (eg base salary, extra salary when the club plays games, match bonuses for individual and team performances etc - but base salary cannot exceed 20% of total salary etc).

If those controls had been in place this problem of the clubs needing to demand players cut their wages wouldn't have happened.

And with that there needs to be people with balls to deal with clubs breaking those financial rules. Tough ask but someone needs to follow the Leeds City model whereby Leeds City were told they weren't welcome to play in the league after too many financial irregularities. The PL is basically a members club so the other clubs should be able to say to convicted clubs like Mancity 'you're banned from the league either permanently or for one or two seasons etc'.

The likes of ManCity wont like it - but they need to be told.
 
Spursidol said:
After the coronavirus problem has gone away, I would hope the various clubs demand the leagues put in place a far stricter version of FFP to stop clubs paying players ridiculously high wages - the current problem is that the player wages are so high that almost no club can survive a 3 - 6 month break without earning revenue by football taking place. FFP might even include certain mandatory clauses in players contracts (eg base salary, extra salary when the club plays games, match bonuses for individual and team performances etc - but base salary cannot exceed 20% of total salary etc).

If those controls had been in place this problem of the clubs needing to demand players cut their wages wouldn't have happened.

And with that there needs to be people with balls to deal with clubs breaking those financial rules. Tough ask but someone needs to follow the Leeds City model whereby Leeds City were told they weren't welcome to play in the league after too many financial irregularities. The PL is basically a members club so the other clubs should be able to say to convicted clubs like Mancity 'you're banned from the league either permanently or for one or two seasons etc'.

The likes of ManCity wont like it - but they need to be told.
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But nothing will happen to them not worth worrying about it.
 
Jamie gspurs said:
At this point I am kind of hoping that majority of the public give up on football at the top levels and walk away leaving the greedy owners , chairman , agents and footballers high and dry

Fans have always justified paying the exorbitant ticket prices by claiming they simply could not break the habit of going and supporting their team and watching a football match , well everyone is having to do that right now and will have to for the foreseeable future

Clear proof that we can survive without football

Won’t happen though , people will all come rushing back the day football starts up again while conveniently forgetting the disgusting behaviour Football has shown
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Totally agree leave the greedy b@#£(%*+s to it no season tickets, no merchandies, no tv sports subscriptions but sadly won’t happen we know it and they know it we will moan and cry for the duration of this situation and we have called them for everything and their attitude but that’s all we will do.....moan and cry we won’t take action me included.... :unsure:
 
Jamie gspurs said:
At this point I am kind of hoping that majority of the public give up on football at the top levels and walk away leaving the greedy owners , chairman , agents and footballers high and dry

Fans have always justified paying the exorbitant ticket prices by claiming they simply could not break the habit of going and supporting their team and watching a football match , well everyone is having to do that right now and will have to for the foreseeable future

Clear proof that we can survive without football

Won’t happen though , people will all come rushing back the day football starts up again while conveniently forgetting the disgusting behaviour Football has shown
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I think it will happen, the vast majority of the population are going to be fucking paupers when this is done so exorbitant Sky and BT subscriptions plus season tickets at the grounds costing thousands will all be a distant memory.

The PL is in for a total reset IMO.
 
Maccer said:
I think it will happen, the vast majority of the population are going to be fucking paupers when this is done so exorbitant Sky and BT subscriptions plus season tickets at the grounds costing thousands will all be a distant memory.

The PL is in for a total reset IMO.
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Well we will see it could go one of two ways fans take a think or more so put into a situation where they just can’t support a team financially and the teams have to adjust or the greedy fucks carry on the way they have been and the better of teams take full advantage wth teams struggling to keep their better players get them and the gap gets bigger between the top 5,6 and the rest and we’re back where we started.
 
Maccer said:
I think it will happen, the vast majority of the population are going to be fucking paupers when this is done so exorbitant Sky and BT subscriptions plus season tickets at the grounds costing thousands will all be a distant memory.

The PL is in for a total reset IMO.
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Hope your right mate

Needed to happen about 15 years ago , this madness has gone on long enough
 
How are we going to be affected? I think we are well placed out of many clubs to survive this from a financial standpoint. The public relations side of things may be a little negative but a lot of that depends on how long it goes on and what the other clubs do. Liverpool took the heat off us it seems.

Are we at any remote risk of going under with the stadium debt? Not at all. IIRC it was a 20 or 30 year loan. The debtors aren't going to do anything drastic and servicing the interest should be manageable for a few years yet. Also our wage bill wasn't astronomical. Something like 30GBP paid to players for every 100GBP brought in. I wouldn't be surprised if Champo club wages outstripped income. They really need a wage cap outside of the prem.

Will we have to sell players? I doubt it. I had a feeling that Ndombele would be shitcanned this summer but I doubt there will be much of a market for him so expect Mourinho to include him in future plans. It will be a buyers market when the window eventually opens. It was teetering on heading that way anyway but this will confirm it.

Will global player values and wages have to decrease moving forwards? Almost certainly they will. But not sure if that will be sustainable in the long term as the agents find their way back out from under the rocks when this is over.

Will the price of tickets increase/decrease as a result of this? Tickets are small fry but I wouldn't be surprised if Levy raised them again.

Will football and sport in general change forever? I think it will. Plenty of clubs will go to the wall the longer this goes on and will be looking at the top of the pyramid for help. Levy has always maintained that the top 6 should be getting the lions share because they are what brings in the money in the first place. He just wants what is fair. With community sentiment already at an all time low perhaps it will be the catalyst for a breakaway league. Something I sure as fuck won't following.

Personally, Spurs have made it very hard for the last year or so to keep supporting them with the decisions they keep making on and off the pitch. I told myself if we fluked the CL final I would check out of modern football. Or at least EPL football. I quite like the lower league stuff as well as watching Serie A as I don't support any team. I just like watching bangers and crazy fans.

The way Levy and Lewis are acting presently is just a continuation of the net spend trophy and it doesn't sit well with me ethically in regards to furloughing the staff. As for the footballers, I don't really mind them getting paid. They have a 10 or so year window to make as much as they can which is why 40% or so of English footballers go bankrupt post retirement. That money isn't being sat in off shore accounts whilst living in a 200M yacht for tax purposes.
 
I don't get the moral outrages and the shouting matches in the media.

There will be a huge loss, that is dead certain:

At the moment it seems that this loss (once the PFA falls into line) will be covered by:

1. Non playing staff: 20 % of wages
2. UK Government: 80 % of non-playing staff wages
3. Playing staff: 30 % of wages
4. Owners: The Balance minus 1+2+3

There are lots of unknowns here, but I bet that the numbers are related as follows

1 < 2 < 3 < 4

Which sits about right with me - nothing unusal or immoral about that Equation in a distressed business scenario. The owners take the biggest hit. The high paid staff the second biggest, the state covers unemployment benefits for low paid staff, and the low paid staff gets a modest income reduction.
 
First and foremost; the focus here is on saving a number of clubs from bankruptcy. Many clubs run on very fine margins; often at a loss. Covid 19 will be devastating for the majority of clubs; even those in the premier league.

1. Loss of gate income
2. Loss of advertising revenue
3. Loss of TV income
4. Loss of prize money
5. Loss of merchandise revenue

The list goes on. Money is going out; and no money is coming in.

We can only pray that the outcome of this is a level playing field for all teams. Salary caps for players is essential. If they players don't like it; they can go an get another job that pays them 80k a week. I'm sure they are fully qualified and can transition to heart surgeon or lawyer pretty quickly. I don't buy the ball crap that the game will suffer if we don't pay such high wages. Would anyone really turn down 20k a week to play football?

How will this affect Spurs? This all boils down to how the league is decided and if we get Champions league football next season. The suggestion gaining the most ground within the clubs in for Liverpool to be awarded trophy and a play off competition to decide the champions league and relegation spots - minimum number of games behind closed doors. Teams will be seeded based on their league position (i.e. 3rd place plays 9th place).

Many clubs however have expressed concern that many players have returned to home countries and may be denied entry back into the UK - also many players will not be fit to play games at short notice.

Rest assured; if we do not gain ECL next season will will need to sell one of our top stars to balance the books. Dele, Harry or Son - and all roads point to Son heading to Germany (however, this may be a cryptic hint at Klopp - with Son replacing Salah or Mane at Pool).
 
Airfixx said:
Certainly no problem with that.... Personally, the gist of my posts on the matter have been from the players upwards. I'm conscious of the fact that we don't know what some players (or owners) do or don't do behind the scenes.... However, I'm offended by the clubs going for a government bail out and sacking the minions in order to save a few quid the first chance they get.
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Last time I checked the staff weren't sacked tho. They were Furloughed. Which is so that they do not have to fire them.

I'm not saying that the players should not chip in and that the directors should not chip in more (they have already taken 20% pay cuts). But we haven't fired our staff. The ground staff/those that cannot work from home are furloughed and the rest are working from home.
 
I think the way it's been handled, IE most of the developed world on lockdown, almost any long term "things" could be fucked forever.

This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. But it's the first time we've implemented this strategy. Possibly born out of higher numbers being able to work from home.

I predict it's going to happen every few years now, almost as soon as something is detected. This will cause havoc with sports seasons and holidays etc etc. It's going to knock the stuffing out of an enormous amount of business.

Also, I'm glad the wage issue has come up and I'd like to see a reasoned debate about it, not just from angry football hating knobs but actual reasoned people.
Why are footballers being called into question but musicians, film/TV stars, other higher paid sports stars not in the spotlight? Why is someone like Ed Sheeran, who made £80 million in a year not being pointed at. Most musicians make money doing fuck all after they've made a song. It's just royalties from radio play.

And the correct issues are being raised - if they DID sacrifice the salary, where is it going? Is it not better to ask them to donate from their net pay and, as most do anyway, just make it public instead of private.
 
Matt1882 said:
I think the way it's been handled, IE most of the developed world on lockdown, almost any long term "things" could be fucked forever.

This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. But it's the first time we've implemented this strategy. Possibly born out of higher numbers being able to work from home.

I predict it's going to happen every few years now, almost as soon as something is detected. This will cause havoc with sports seasons and holidays etc etc. It's going to knock the stuffing out of an enormous amount of business.

Also, I'm glad the wage issue has come up and I'd like to see a reasoned debate about it, not just from angry football hating knobs but actual reasoned people.
Why are footballers being called into question but musicians, film/TV stars, other higher paid sports stars not in the spotlight? Why is someone like Ed Sheeran, who made £80 million in a year not being pointed at. Most musicians make money doing fuck all after they've made a song. It's just royalties from radio play.

And the correct issues are being raised - if they DID sacrifice the salary, where is it going? Is it not better to ask them to donate from their net pay and, as most do anyway, just make it public instead of private.
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A very well reasoned post.

This pandemic/crisis is going to and already is causing people to point fingers at each other all over the place but hopefully it highlights not only how unfair the system within football is, but as a whole.

It is important that this debate it taken further than "footballer vs staff" or "footballer vs owner".

That the poorest parts of society are the first to suffer in a crisis is nothing new sadly.
 
Spursidol said:
After the coronavirus problem has gone away, I would hope the various clubs demand the leagues put in place a far stricter version of FFP to stop clubs paying players ridiculously high wages - the current problem is that the player wages are so high that almost no club can survive a 3 - 6 month break without earning revenue by football taking place.
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Shouldn't that also be forced on every business and industry then? No business can survive having virtually zero income over 3-6 months.
 
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