Season is over.

[WoodsyGreen]

To be fair its completely possible that we're about to be promoted from a division that will not be in existence in the not too distant future with the amount of clubs facing extinction.

This doomsday scenario won't happen. Do you really think the government and football authorities will just watch on as multiple professional football clubs go to the wall?

Radical measures might be required to keep some clubs going but there is no chance an entire division will cease to exist.

 

[Devongreenowl]

To be fair its completely possible that we're about to be promoted from a division that will not be in existence in the not too distant future with the amount of clubs facing extinction.

This doomsday scenario won't happen. Do you really think the government and football authorities will just watch on as multiple professional football clubs go to the wall?

Radical measures might be required to keep some clubs going but there is no chance an entire division will cease to exist.

Ah, the voice of reason. Well done Woodsy :thumbs:

 

[Balham Green]

To be fair its completely possible that we're about to be promoted from a division that will not be in existence in the not too distant future with the amount of clubs facing extinction.

This doomsday scenario won't happen. Do you really think the government and football authorities will just watch on as multiple professional football clubs go to the wall?

Radical measures might be required to keep some clubs going but there is no chance an entire division will cease to exist.

May not exist as before though. Part time, North and south....? I love all these people such as Owl prophesising the future when even the scientists dont know what will happen. We dont really have a clue.

 

[up the line]

To be fair its completely possible that we're about to be promoted from a division that will not be in existence in the not too distant future with the amount of clubs facing extinction.

This doomsday scenario won't happen. Do you really think the government and football authorities will just watch on as multiple professional football clubs go to the wall?

Radical measures might be required to keep some clubs going but there is no chance an entire division will cease to exist.

Yes I do.
I think that outside the football world there would be a justifiable moral outcry if a government who have decimated the benefits system, couldn't find money to raise nurse's wages (and cheered it too) and have waged war on essential services, suddenly found a 'magic money tree' (trademark Theresa May), to bankroll minor provincial football clubs with crowds of 2-3 thousand.
Not forgetting of course the cutthroat neoliberal ethos that the 'market' puts everything and everyone in its right place, so if Accrington Stanley or dare I say it Plymouth Argyle go to the wall, its just a result of the market naturally sorting out the wheat from the chaff...
Outside of the big clubs who will survive despite in some cases being chronically debt ridden or unable to support themselves without an oligarch, do you think the demise of Rochdale FC would really be high on the agenda of any dyed in the wool tory?
There are more pressing matters than saving Morecambe FC (or others) as a professional football club and we all know the higher echelons of football aren't going to be falling over themselves to prop up 4th division clubs

 

[xmastree]

To be fair its completely possible that we're about to be promoted from a division that will not be in existence in the not too distant future with the amount of clubs facing extinction.

This doomsday scenario won't happen. Do you really think the government and football authorities will just watch on as multiple professional football clubs go to the wall?

Radical measures might be required to keep some clubs going but there is no chance an entire division will cease to exist.

How many clubs are actually sustainable as a stand alone business (i.e. without owners dripping money in to keep them afloat)? Very few, and that's in normal times. How do you justify putting public money into propping up non-sustainable football clubs? Additionally, by doing so, you are rewarding those who have been poorly managed - what sort of incentive is that to other clubs trying to be profitable.

If there was a rescue package it would have to be with strings attached - clubs would have to commit to significant reductions in outgoings, in other words to pay players a lot less. If this means players going part time, then so be it.

 

[WoodsyGreen]

This is true , football clubs are not going to be high on the government agenda , see Bury.
The yes minister episode where the government has the choice of saving the football club or the museum is spookily prescient. If the creditors call in the debts I can only see football itself (prem league/ championship?) saving them and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

Bury were a single entity, an entire division is not. Our league pyramid has been around for 100 years and I believe the Government recognises its value sufficiently to protect it from extinction.

I don't think it'll come to that, though, but I do recognise that other opinions are available and time will tell.

 

[up the line]

This is true , football clubs are not going to be high on the government agenda , see Bury.
The yes minister episode where the government has the choice of saving the football club or the museum is spookily prescient. If the creditors call in the debts I can only see football itself (prem league/ championship?) saving them and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

Bury were a single entity, an entire division is not. Our league pyramid has been around for 100 years and I believe the Government recognises its value sufficiently to protect it from extinction.

I don't think it'll come to that, though, but I do recognise that other opinions are available and time will tell.

Again, let me understand, you're talking about the government using public money to keep football clubs afloat in addition to the public money required for everything else?
Wow that really will require a magic money tree.
I can see the public being overjoyed at the thought of their taxes being put to good use keeping fourth division footballers in 4x4s..

Can you explain to us what the value is to a tory minister in clubs like Barrow continuing to exist.
We all understand our attachment to our football clubs but lets not pretend we live in a world where everything and everyone is judged and valued by how much cash they can accumulate

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

The Government are guaranteeing loans to businesses to help keep them afloat through this crisis. Why would football clubs be excepted from these?

 

[Devongreenowl]

Not forgetting of course the cutthroat neoliberal ethos that the 'market' puts everything and everyone in its right place, so if Accrington Stanley or dare I say it Plymouth Argyle go to the wall, its just a result of the market naturally sorting out the wheat from the chaff...


You could be right, but I don’t think so. Of course, nobody stepped in to help Bury for instance, but if the doomsday predictions are right and say, ten clubs were about to go to the wall, I can’t see the Government failing to step in when it has stepped in so magnificently in my opinion, with its financial assistance across most areas of society during this pandemic.

It’s just not the financial aspect, it would be the impact on local communities of the loss of their football clubs. Not just to those who go every week, but to those more people who have always 'looked out' for their teams results. So if one or two were to to go to the wall, as was already being predicted before this epidemic was even thought of, it may be allowed to happen. Not 10-12 clubs though. It would be very cavalier and harsh of any government to allow that, particularly if the financial failure was almost entirely due to the lockdown.

 

[up the line]

Not forgetting of course the cutthroat neoliberal ethos that the 'market' puts everything and everyone in its right place, so if Accrington Stanley or dare I say it Plymouth Argyle go to the wall, its just a result of the market naturally sorting out the wheat from the chaff...


You could be right, but I don’t think so. Of course, nobody stepped in to help Bury for instance, but if the doomsday predictions are right and say, ten clubs were about to go to the wall, I can’t see the Government failing to step in when it has stepped in so magnificently in my opinion, with its financial assistance across most areas of society during this pandemic.

It’s just not the financial aspect, it would be the impact on local communities of the loss of their football clubs. Not just to those who go every week, but to those more people who have always 'looked out' for their teams results. So if one or two were to to go to the wall, as was already being predicted before this epidemic was even thought of, it may be allowed to happen. Not 10-12 clubs though. It would be very cavalier and harsh of any government to allow that, particularly if the financial failure was almost entirely due to the lockdown.

You really must be a glass half full person if Removed by Site Admin

 

[WoodsyGreen]

This is true , football clubs are not going to be high on the government agenda , see Bury.
The yes minister episode where the government has the choice of saving the football club or the museum is spookily prescient. If the creditors call in the debts I can only see football itself (prem league/ championship?) saving them and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

Bury were a single entity, an entire division is not. Our league pyramid has been around for 100 years and I believe the Government recognises its value sufficiently to protect it from extinction.

I don't think it'll come to that, though, but I do recognise that other opinions are available and time will tell.

Again, let me understand, you're talking about the government using public money to keep football clubs afloat in addition to the public money required for everything else?
Wow that really will require a magic money tree.
I can see the public being overjoyed at the thought of their taxes being put to good use keeping fourth division footballers in 4x4s..

Can you explain to us what the value is to a tory minister in clubs like Barrow continuing to exist.
We all understand our attachment to our football clubs but lets not pretend we live in a world where everything and everyone is judged and valued by how much cash they can accumulate

They've already pumped £16m into rugby league in the form of interest-free loans. What makes you think they wouldn't do the same for our national sport now they've set a precedent?

Removed by Site Admin

 

[WoodsyGreen]

Not forgetting of course the cutthroat neoliberal ethos that the 'market' puts everything and everyone in its right place, so if Accrington Stanley or dare I say it Plymouth Argyle go to the wall, its just a result of the market naturally sorting out the wheat from the chaff...


You could be right, but I don’t think so. Of course, nobody stepped in to help Bury for instance, but if the doomsday predictions are right and say, ten clubs were about to go to the wall, I can’t see the Government failing to step in when it has stepped in so magnificently in my opinion, with its financial assistance across most areas of society during this pandemic.

It’s just not the financial aspect, it would be the impact on local communities of the loss of their football clubs. Not just to those who go every week, but to those more people who have always 'looked out' for their teams results. So if one or two were to to go to the wall, as was already being predicted before this epidemic was even thought of, it may be allowed to happen. Not 10-12 clubs though. It would be very cavalier and harsh of any government to allow that, particularly if the financial failure was almost entirely due to the lockdown.

You really must be a glass half full person if you think the Tory Party are vaguely concerned about the loss of something that binds people in a community together

“Rugby league is a sport that makes a significant social impact in the communities it serves, which is even more important now as we respond to the economic pressures resulting from Covid-19,” Steve Barclay, chief secretary to the Treasury, said.

Removed by Site Admin

My edit: Just to clarify there was no insult or expletive there, I merely made a comment about the Conservatives in direct response to up_the_line's.

 

[Devongreenowl]

The shame is, there must have been some very disappointed people when the financial assistance measures were announced at the beginning of lockdown. You could almost her the collective gulp of millions of establishment bashers.

 

[oldage]

We are in unchartered territory so nobody knows what the future holds. For football to survive it needs to be sustainable.
A few clubs were already struggling with finance before Covid 19 and this could possibly be the final straw.
I can see a restructuring of the EFL with either a north and south division below the Championship which has been done before or depending on the number of clubs affected, an amalgamation of Division 2 with the National League.
Very few Chairmen have deep enough pockets to prop up a club in the long term .

 

[Devongreenowl]

The shame is, there must have been some very disappointed people when the financial assistance measures were announced at the beginning of lockdown. You could almost her the collective gulp of millions of establishment bashers.

Err the “establishment” is the government and the unelected bureaucrats who make the rules, and ignore them. And that financial assistance is my money not theirs.

What, all of it?!? Nobody was expecting such generous payouts and the likes of Maitlis and Kuensberg were silenced for at least fifteen minutes when it was announced. All the usual suspects looked like they had a serious attack of wind, they appeared so uncomfortable.