The PFA's Response To The Coronavirus Crisis

[daleblue]

10 minutes ago, torryowl said:

Think he went to prison  

 

Could you imagine a footballer going to prison these days for tax avoidance, pity it wont happen, would send a clear message to the rest of em.

I bet there are a few who have schemes going.

Edited April 5, 2020 by daleblue

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

A fairly balanced article on the matter here:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/apr/05/footballers-wages-premier-league

 

The PFA still appear to have taken a terrible approach to the situation, though...

 

'The PFA stance has been to wait until it is possible for everyone to make concessions and move forward together, which sounds reasonable, except it seemed to prevent English clubs following the lead set by Barcelona and Juventus, among others, where pay cuts of up to 70% have already been agreed.'

[SiJ]

Basically, a PR disaster by all concerned. 

 

Like most things in this country, we see incapable of handling anything correctly. It always turns into some sort of protracted sh*tshow. 

 

I understand the PFA are concerned that the money from the paycut will just go back into the club coffers and be spent by the chairman, chief execs as they see fit. They want some sort of guarantee that the money will be spent on the NHS, Leagues one, two and the non-playing staff. 

 

Don't have any issue with that per se, but them (and the players by associated), the PL and club owners are all coming out of this looking like selfish, tone deaf idiots. 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

2 hours ago, SiJ said:

Basically, a PR disaster by all concerned. 

 

Like most things in this country, we see incapable of handling anything correctly. It always turns into some sort of protracted sh*tshow. 

 

I understand the PFA are concerned that the money from the paycut will just go back into the club coffers and be spent by the chairman, chief execs as they see fit. They want some sort of guarantee that the money will be spent on the NHS, Leagues one, two and the non-playing staff. 

 

Don't have any issue with that per se, but them (and the players by associated), the PL and club owners are all coming out of this looking like selfish, tone deaf idiots. 

 

Yep.

 

It's a PR disaster for the game as a whole, isn't it?

 

Once it was clear that the game was being suspended, the PFA could have taken a leading role in helping to facilitate some kind of scheme whereby a proportion of players' wages were to be donated to the lower levels of the game, non-playing staff, and the NHS / whichever other worthy causes they saw fit.

 

Instead, they dug their heels in, released statements such as 'Football’s rules require players’ contracts to be paid in full and the PFA’s stance... is that deferrals of wages, not pay cuts, will be considered', then went on the defensive when that didn't go down too well.

 

They've been far too reactive in all of this and any positive gesture which might eventually arrive will be seen by many, perhaps unfairly,  as a response to the criticism rather than being born out of a genuine desire to help.

[SiJ]

1 minute ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

Yep.

 

It's a PR disaster for the game as a whole, isn't it?

 

Once it was clear that the game was being suspended, the PFA could have taken a leading role in helping to facilitate some kind of scheme whereby a proportion of players' wages were to be donated to the lower levels of the game, non-playing staff, and the NHS / whichever other worthy causes they saw fit.

 

Instead, they dug their heels in, released statements such as 'Football’s rules require players’ contracts to be paid in full and the PFA’s stance... is that deferrals of wages, not pay cuts, will be considered', then went on the defensive when that didn't go down too well.

 

They've been far too reactive in all of this and any positive gesture which might eventually arrive will be seen by many, perhaps unfairly,  as a response to the criticism rather than being born out of a genuine desire to help.

Completely agree. 

 

The PFA has adopted the position of waiting to see what happens and then dug their heels in when others tried to seize the initiative. 

 

As you rightly point out: they could have been proactive and have been the ones to put forward a proposal to defer their members wages for a period. Fantastic PR for them/their members and we would have at least avoided some of the fallout/negative PR that is engulfing this thing. 

 

Once again, English football comes out of this looking so poor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but have players at Juve, Barca etc., already agreed to take paycuts? 

 

Two of the biggest clubs in the world and yet we've got Liverpool and Spurs exploiting the furloughed scheme. Shocking. 

[Stoop]

I wouldn’t have a problem with the players collecting 100% of their wages, as long as their clubs were continuing to pay their other staff and not expecting the government to foot the bill

Edited April 5, 2020 by Stoop

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

2 hours ago, SiJ said:

Completely agree. 

 

The PFA has adopted the position of waiting to see what happens and then dug their heels in when others tried to seize the initiative. 

 

As you rightly point out: they could have been proactive and have been the ones to put forward a proposal to defer their members wages for a period. Fantastic PR for them/their members and we would have at least avoided some of the fallout/negative PR that is engulfing this thing. 

 

Once again, English football comes out of this looking so poor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but have players at Juve, Barca etc., already agreed to take paycuts? 

 

Two of the biggest clubs in the world and yet we've got Liverpool and Spurs exploiting the furloughed scheme. Shocking. 

 

It's genuinely eroding what little love I still had left for top-level football.

 

I'm almost embarrassed to say I follow a sport which behaves like this right now.

[The Night-Owl]

44 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

It's genuinely eroding what little love I still had left for top-level football.

 

I'm almost embarrassed to say I follow a sport which behaves like this right now.

 

This ^

 

My love for sport and especially football is being truly tested through this pandemic. There are far more important things to worry about than sport, yet football as shown just how greedy, self important and selfish it as become in the modern era. The Premier League, mega rich clubs and mega rich players, appear nothing but selfish and repulsive, in a time when health and life should be far more important than TV money, sponsorships and honours. Football needs a good long look at itself and the way it's run, especially in this country after the pandemic is over, as the pandemic's economic effects are most likely going to have far reaching consequences for years to come. And many working people, families and average people will not be able to afford season tickets, TV packages and match day tickets and match day expenses.

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

When you hear what other professional sports bodies have organised, football's inability to act is looking worse by the day.

 

Three weeks ago, the Professional Triathletes Organisation gave $500,000 in bonuses to men and women ranked between 21 and 100 in the world. The world’s top 10 have also committed to doing online appearances and exhibitions and donating all the revenue to lower-ranked triathletes.

 

Last week, Sport England announced a £192m package to help grassroots sport – including a £20m emergency fund with grants of between £300 and £10,000 for sports clubs and community organisations.

[The only way is S6]

On 05/04/2020 at 10:07, daleblue said:

I hope the tax man goes after the lot of them including the PFA, remember lester Piggot, didn't he get a suspended 

sentence for tax avoidance?

He did time. There used to be an upstairs bar in the old grandstand at Donny racecourse with a sign hanging outside it with Piggott’s portrait on it.

We stuck some black insulation tape on it, in vertical strips.

[daleblue]

55 minutes ago, The only way is S6 said:

He did time. There used to be an upstairs bar in the old grandstand at Donny racecourse with a sign hanging outside it with Piggott’s portrait on it.

We stuck some black insulation tape on it, in vertical strips.

 

[torryowl]

8 hours ago, Gargoyle said:

Gordon Taylor has been an absolute arsewipe during all his tenure at the PFA.

 

39 years in the job says the majority of his members don't think so …….you cant be in the same job for that length of time and be crap at it . ..he may well be past his sell by date  but arsewipe he aint when it comes to looking after his members …...

[Rogers]

Not directly PFA associated..but Liverpool are back tracking....

 

Liverpool have reversed their decision to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave and apologised to fans.

On Saturday, the club said they were going to apply to the government's taxpayer-funded job retention scheme, sparking a fierce backlash.

But in a letter to their fans, chief executive Peter Moore said: "We believe we came to the wrong conclusion last week and are truly sorry for that."

He added that the Reds have "opted to find alternative means" to pay staff.

The U-turn came after mounting criticism had led to talks between the club's US owners Fenway Sports Group, executives and key stakeholders.

Liverpool had become the fifth Premier League team to furlough non-playing staff with the season suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff affected were to receive 80% of their salary through the scheme and the club would make up the difference, despite making a profit of £42m last year. Liverpool are the world's seventh-richest football club.

The decision was criticised by former Liverpool players Jamie Carragher and Stan Collymore.

[The only way is S6]

10 hours ago, torryowl said:

.you cant be in the same job for that length of time and be crap

 

Blatter

 

Taylor.

[sweetsheri]

Football excluding The Wednesday is finished for me. 
 

F u c k em 

[fudge27]

Sunderland and crewe furlough their players. Seen Sunderland are going to make the wages up. The snakey rumblezoids. A club like Sunderland doing that is appalling 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

18 minutes ago, fudge27 said:

Sunderland and crewe furlough their players. Seen Sunderland are going to make the wages up. The snakey rumblezoids. A club like Sunderland doing that is appalling 

 

According to their statement, "...SAFC has no intention to ask any players or staff to take a wage reduction or deferral on their salary, and the club remains fully committed to ensuring all employees are paid in full."

 

So it's okay for the tax payer to pick up the tab for a League One club who choose to spend a reported £10m on players' wages, rather than asking those players to take a pay cut?

 

I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing something here?

[fudge27]

14 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

According to their statement, "...SAFC has no intention to ask any players or staff to take a wage reduction or deferral on their salary, and the club remains fully committed to ensuring all employees are paid in full."

 

So it's okay for the tax payer to pick up the tab for a League One club who choose to spend a reported £10m on players' wages, rather than asking those players to take a pay cut?

 

I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing something here?

It's crazyness. Football is taking the wee wee. Absolute scumbags, fell out of love with the game a while ago, and think I'll be done after this. 

 

 

[matthefish2002]

I have to agree with a lot of sentiment in this thread that football has come out of the Corona Virus crisis very badly.

I am surprised the clubs were not think if contingency plans a good two weeks before the suspension of the season.

 

Does come across that clubs and players are very quick to virtue signal when promoting the 'Kick it out' campaign, wearing rainbow laces, going round kiddies hospitals, saying they care about the community and the football family. But when it comes to the crunch of making a real sacrifice for the common good beyond wearing a t shirt and having there photo taken they dont want to know. F*** em!!!!!

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

Stijn Francis, a football agent, has written a piece in today's Guardian arguing against footballers taking pay cuts.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/08/footballers-should-not-be-forced-to-take-pay-cuts-stijn-francis-agent-alderweireld-mertens

 

I can't say I'm convinced.

 

His argument regarding contractual stability rings hollow to me. The fact that footballers sign fixed-term contracts doesn't in and of itself explain why they alone should be exempt from pay cuts during a time of global emergency.

 

When he makes comments such as "If clubs insist on a wage reduction, players should be put in the same situation as any regular worker", he further undermines his point. Top-level footballers are a world removed from the 'regular worker' and would be horrified if their pay and conditions were suddenly on par with the majority of the population.

 

It's also a bit rich for a football agent - you know, the kind of leech who bleeds millions out of the game and encourages ever-spiralling transfer fees, wages and bonus payments, to say: "you would expect that owners of well-run businesses would always maintain a financial buffer to survive a period with less revenue."