Real Madrid are the latest big club to announce that their players and coaches have agreed to take pay cuts. The cut varies between 10 and 20% which might not sound a lot but 10-20% of a massive wage bill like theirs must be is a whole lot of money. This cut will go on until La Liga starts up again. The rationale behind this move is to reduce the “traumatic measures that affect the rest of the workers”. Bravo I say but of course, they are not alone as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have already confirmed their players have taken a reduction in salary, albeit theirs is a huge 70%. As far as I understand from what I’ve read, these are the only clubs where players and coaches have taken a pay cut. Certainly in the top leagues around Europe.
Here in the Premier League, players have decided to do their own thing via #PlayersTogether which is a fund to help the NHS charities.
Great, of course it is but isn’t the whole idea about taking pay cuts to help the club the play for look after the staff who unlike them, could face being furloughed the longer this lockdown remains in place? Wouldn’t it be hypocritical of the Toots players should they donate to this fund after being caught out training in a north London park with Mourinho? The best way to help the NHS is by staying at home, stop the spread of this killer virus and in doing so, keep people out of hospital. No amount of money can make that happen because on we can can do that and it’s the same whatever country you or I live in.
I was talking to someone yesterday who works in a hospital. A relative of hers lives in Malta and when the people didn’t take the lockdown seriously enough, €3 thousand fines were introduced. After this made little difference, the fines were upped to €7 thousand. Still the people of Malta ventured out so up the fine went to €10 thousand and that was it. Empty streets as the message finally got through. One of you might live in Malta and tell me this story is false but all I’ll say is don’t shoot the messenger. I mention this because personally, I don’t need a threat of a large fine to keep me at home. Just knowing that walking out my front door means I’m not as safe or as protected against this virus as I am staying within the boundaries of my home is enough to convince me to do as I’m advised.
I tell that story because by the time that €10 thousand fine was announced, no one knew how much damage had been done. How many people in Malta had the virus, how much had it been spread by those ignoring the advice. Similar can be said about football, albeit people’s lives are not at stake. Football clubs are though because their main source of revenue is very likely to be hit hard. The wages are still being paid yet nothing is coming into the clubs bank. No ticket sales, no merchandise being bought from the clubs shop, no food or drink at the grounds. Refunds on season tickets are a real thing too. Money is going out but very little is going in. There are probably a handful of clubs who might scrape through this crisis still intact, but unless this season is completed, the rest could be facing serious financial problems.
I don’t know for sure how many players Arsenal have bought on the ‘never never’ but I think it’s only Pepe and that agreement was reported to be with Lille and not a lender which is not as bad as those clubs who borrow money for transfers knowing that the big payment television broadcasters make is their assurance. Which is why the FA are desperate to get this season finished and why the call for players in the Premier League to take a pay cut get louder.
According to Spotrac, Arsenal have a wage bill of £100 million per year. Man City’s is roughly £150 million per year and they are already in the naughty corner. Liverpool’s is £111 million ish, Chelsea £125 million, Utd £160 million and just for the sake of it, Toots is around £85 million per year. Yep, that TV money is needed, as is the extra earnings for league placements. You don’t need me to work out the percentages for you if these guys agreed to a pay cut similar to Real Madrid, or even Barcelona.
Clubs might try and recoup funds during the transfer window or sell in order to buy and I’d imagine Arsenal will be one of them but players valuations will no doubt have lessened as TransferMarket predict. I know it’s all relative really because whoever the club want to sign will now cost less too. But for all clubs planning to sell their most sought after players to make a profit, that big fee might not come because every club around the world will be penny pinching this summer.
For Arsenal it means Aubameyang, Lacazette, Sokratis, Ozil, Mustafi and even Saka if he’s hell bent on leaving, all who are out of contract next summer, might not sell for as much as previously hoped. When it comes to wanting or perhaps needing to make a profit, that matters.
Stay safe guys, stay healthy.
Hi rico, so sad at the moment.
Figures on the news are worrying every day, but it really hits home when your neighbour of over 30 years suddenly got taken away in a ambulance on Monday and died two days later at Southend Hospital.
He did have diabetes and was in his 70s, but we saw him for a brief chat only a week ago outside garage, as he just returned from a daily walk. His wife said he felt a little out of breath next day. Lovely man who would help anyone.
I spent a long time yesterday morning speaking to his devastated wife who wasn’t allowed to go and say goodbye but they did hold her phone up to him for a few seconds. Heartbreaking.
It makes you even madder at people ignoring the guidelines.
Further reminder for us all to try to keep well and stay safe.
Hi Andrew, that’s a heartbreaking story. One which sadly, so many could probably tell right now. Give your neighbour a big hug from all at HH, she must be going through hell right now..
My thoughts are with you too…
Thanks rico, wont say any more as we want to keep site football related, but will pass on your lovely message when I next see her.
Tragic story, Andrew, and one told too many times already around the world.
Let’s hope we can all get on top of this ASAP.
Morning guys.
Good day all, A beautiful warm, sunny morning here in Norfolk. I’m afraid there are going to be more and more sad stories before the Corvid-19 crisis is over.
Andrew, in the interests of social distancing that should be a virtual hug for your neighbour. 😉
Morning Rico and all. Andrew, that’s a heartbreaking story that I am very sorry to hear.
The new reality that we are all waking up to every day will find it’s own level in football and many other aspects of our lives I imagine.
I don’t think life as we know it will ever be the same.
Maybe that’s not a terrible thing, who knows, but whatever the case, the price we are paying is horrendous.
Thanks Andrew. Yet still idiots are flocking to the coast I hear on the news..
Morning Adam. The really odd thing is we’re all in this together. Right across the world and I don’t recall any such thing in my lifetime, not life before. It’s the world against this evil virus.
You know what Scott, there’s one thing I’ve wanted to say on here but felt it was in bad taste but I hope no one takes offence now I will.
Arsene Wenger always believed that football and finances etc would catch up with each other. Probably half the reason he was so frugal, if not 100%. All history now but, as other clubs are perhaps heading for a struggle if this season isn’t finished, his frugal ways together with Stan Kroenke and the rest of the board running Arsenal as a self sustaining club, we might all realise over the next few months that they were and still are right in what they’re doing.
A reported £100 million cash in the bank, most if not all bar Pepe paid for and a small mortgage over the clubs head….
Arsene thought FFP would be the thing, I bet he never thought it would be something as cruel as Covid-19.
It’s so sad to hear these stories , we are all getting inured to the figures that are reported on the hour every hour by rolling news.
Moral outrage is everywhere , no doubt people will rush home to clap the NHS workers tonight .
Far too many are flouting the rules , here we have boats on the Broads and people taking pic nics to sit on the river banks . Anyone that gets into trouble or has a medical emergency and the only way to reach them would be by lifeboat or air ambulance who no doubt have better things to do .
Perhaps those reported for ignoring the recommendation should go to the back of the queue if they need respite but we all know it doesn’t work that way.
In Norfolk we have a population of 860,000 people , if only 1% need an ICU bed not just for Covid ,that would mean we would need 8,600 beds . At the moment we have 45 .
And people are still arriving from other places and going out on their boats ………………….Go figure.
It amazes me, no, infuriates me a Potter that people can not just stay at home for a few months in order to protect themselves and others. I still see couples or families out together shopping but why? Is it too difficult to nominate just one person from the family to do things which really have to be done…
As for the holiday makers heading to the coast, as the post says, let’s go down the Malta route.
Rico, I truly believed Arsene was ahead of his time, actually, maybe a step ahead of the game is more apt but then felt it backfired when FFP turned out to be rather toothless.
I reckon Stan Purchased the club in no small part due to Arsene being involved.
It’s not in poor taste what you’ve said, it’s just the truth and this is an Arsenal/football group so the context is clear imo.
Professional sport worldwide needs a correction, as do other things.
It’s a horrible cost, but the lessons are there to be learned so I hope as a population and as individuals, we take something positive from it.
Potter, I reckon there would be be an area, let alone a country anywhere in the world even close to being prepared for this.
It’s quite unbelievable how a virus has shut the world down.
Would NOT be an area, that should read..
Agree re FFP being toothless Scott. Although I would say that I doubt you appreciate how dense the population is in places similar to where Potter lives or on any of our British coastal resorts when the sun shines. It really is hideous and at times like this, extremely dangerous.
I mean no offence with that either.. 😂
Rico, it gets pretty bad in my part of the world during holidays.
This weekend will be different though.
What a terribly sad story Andrew, I feel so sorry for your neighbour and his poor wife.
Funnily enough I was talking to one my neighbours last week, over the fence, at a safe distance of course, and his wife told me that Southend Hospital was totally full up then and that our local hospital in Basildon was close to also being full, so there’s more going on out here in the wilds of Essex than we may have thought.
I last worked on April 20th, since then I’ve been home indoors isolating myself, save for one trip to the High St here in Wickford and four trips to my local life saving convenience store, thank God for them!
It’s just like I’m watching one of those disaster movies on Film4, only that I’m right in the middle of this one, I just wonder when Samuel L Jackson or George Clooney or Brad Pitt are going to turn up and save the world?
On a brighter note, our dog just won again.
9 wins from 11 starts and right now, the monthly prizemoney cheque is damn handy!!!
She could seriously be superstar they she’s going.
Box 4 the blue rug.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2023522587956911/permalink/2275886859387148/
Good point Rico, regarding football having to reframe itself when this is all over, although I think the likes of Man City will just carry on as normal as will Man Utd with their resources and Chelsea with their financial backing. Leicester and Everton have wealthy backers but the rest of us might have to turn to a more self sufficient model, for example I’ve read that Wolves are heavily in debt and that Burnley are tittering on the edge, then Bournemouth, Southampton and Sheffield United are all under extreme pressure, so the next transfer window could well be seismic in terms of value for money, and with £100m in the bank, Arsenal might just be in the right place at the right time?
At the other end of the spectrum of course, it will effect what Arsenal can earn from selling anyone, for example, if the most you can possibly get in a deflated transfer market for say Aubameyang is £30m, then I’d say that there’s an argument for keeping him and his 25/30 odd goals and taking the hit a year later when he’s 32..?
Tsk tsk Kev, the Aubameyang bit is in the post. 😜
In fact it all is. Lol
There’s the difference Scott, I reckon the beaches will be packed here.
Good finish Scott , Seemed strange to see the trap colours are different and 8 traps where we have 6. Maybe it’s the tightness of the bends or maybe it’s to shorten the odds.
Congrats Scott, we need some good news. Ambulance next door again, her daughter who recently moved back home I believe.
Don’t say the wife has now caught it Andrew…
Rico, I mentioned Aubameyang because he is our most valuable asset who could be sold, Lacazette has two years on his deal so his situation and value could be different, Ozil isn’t leaving if his agent is to be believed, but Saka is the biggest concern given his age and potential value, we have to keep him.
I guess the question I was posing regarding Aubameyang was what price would Arsenal fans accept or say, ‘nah, I’d rather keep him than give him away even if he walks in a year’ and as I’ve seen his price suggested in these deflated times as £30m, I’d be inclined to keep him.
Of course we might get bids lower than that and we could also get bigger bids, I mean would you accept £30m or £25m?
I think we should accept whatever is on offer Kev if he doesn’t want to stay.
Good point re Lacazette, I’d forgotten his contract has a while to run but even so, if the club is looking to cash in, they could be disappointed with the offers.
Agree on Saka, it’s concerning that he’s yet to sign.
Thanks Potter.
We don’t have seeded races here either-box draws are random.
It’s a totally different scenario here to racing around the world.
Some ways it’s better, other ways not so much but it is what it is and she’s giving me reason to smile atm which is important.
Thanks Andrew.
The problems we are having aren’t magically washed away, but for a few hours before and after her races, the excitement does put the rest to the side.
What I’m amazed at is how many of my family and friends are Along for the ride with us.
Seems everyone is enjoying the distraction which can only be good.
Rico, I guess I never looked at it that way.
You guys, I’d imagine, have limited quality beaches where we have 10,000-20,000 k’s of it……
Yep, people would congregate more.
I’d really like to think Saka is just playing the game to strengthen his negotiating power.
No, I don’t like that, especially from a young player, but I’d rather that than him be playing the field
New post up now
Morning all.
Exactly Scott. Plus you have much better weather all year round. To see the sunshine and high temperatures here in the UK is rare.. 😆