Football has shown its worst side during this crisis…
Coronavirus has brought out the worst in English football, exposing the self-interest that surrounds the sport like Covidiots around a KFC…
Football has taken on added significance during the Covid-19 outbreak, the symbolism of 22 people kicking a ball around on an open field in stark contrast to the self-isolation zeitgeist.
The British Government has even pointed to the return of the Premier League as enough to “lift the spirits of the nation”.
Sad then that this corinthian sporting dream in a sea of hand sanitiser has exposed the lousy excesses of free market football.
The video on social media of the two wee bairns sharing a bottle of Lucozade is timely. If it were certain football and media executives trying to get a taste, the contents would be all over the floor and the bottle would be gone.
We are approaching two months since Social Distancing started and two medical experts finally find the answer… Lucozade 😷#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/SSa4G6295f
— 🌘RoB🌒 (@spinyspacerocks) May 15, 2020
It started badly with the furloughing of non-playing staff at Liverpool and Spurs, with public outcry prompting a u-turn.
Then, inevitably, a domino rally of threatened litigation with lawyers laughing it up as Covid-19 kicked in. First, overseas TV rights holders threatened to sue the Premier League if fixtures weren’t fulfilled. Then Championship clubs suggested legal action if promotion to the Premier League was denied.
In League One, Peterborough owner Darragh Macanthony, in line for promotion, promised to sue any owners who refuse to fulfil their remaining fixtures and then decided to change his mind.
There’s nothing more life-affirming during an international pandemic than the backdrop of legal wrangles about football matches. Premier League clubs were told they faced a bill of up to £350 million to TV companies even if fixtures are fulfilled.
Man Utd put the tin hat on things by carrying out petty litigation against the makers of popular computer game Football Manager over use of the club’s name.
An agent, the most selfless of all of football’s hangers-on, suggested that the Premier League should play over in Perth, Australia. You couldn’t make it up.
Project Restart appears to be going ahead despite some club doctors expressing serious concerns over the resumption of top-flight football. Leading safety consultant John Newsham has also warned much more needs to be done to examine whether matches can be played during the pandemic.
Hull City sent a letter to the EFL calling for the Championship season to be voided on grounds of potential liability should employees contract covid-19 and citing high infection rates in Yorkshire, only to be accused of selfishness with the club just outside the relegation zone. They then registered a pair of positive tests.
Meanwhile, six infections were counted in the first round of Premier League testing, two in the next. Watford’s Troy Deeney and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante are staying away from training over safety fears. The ‘R’ rate of national infection has remained steady at between 0.7 and 1 for two consecutive weeks, but the game goes on it seems.
Of course there’s a strong sense of getting the game going before the whole thing goes pop, a notion subtly challenged by the Shadow Sports Minister in a letter to Westminster over fears of a rushed restart, stating the health of players and their families must come first.
Premier League Chief Exec Richard Masters, his company in receipt of £9billion broadcast revenues, was reticent when pressed on the need for a top-tier bail-out of their sibling EFL clubs.
With more than £9billion total broadcast revenue for this 3 year cycle, could & should the Premier League do more to help EFL clubs faced with the prospect of their seasons being cancelled & going bust?
I put this to PL chief Richard Masters: pic.twitter.com/HkUjPbpsJL— Dan Roan (@danroan) May 24, 2020
Supporters, the ones almost totally taken for granted, are stepping up to keep things going, paying for season tickets they may never use despite having no say in what the post-coronavirus football landscape will look like.
Back at Liverpool, the Champions League match against Atletico Madrid has been found to have caused increased suffering and death from Covid-19.
We have an industry whose idea of self-regulation was largely to let money slosh around and hope for the best. Now the cash is drying up, well-meaning decision-making cannot be distinguished from the self-absorbed with the hungry roots of capitalistic sport entangling all and pressing tightly.
This has not gone well.