Neville was spot on, Newcastle United, whataboutery and…

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The other end of player wage question
Completely agree with Gary Neville on Peter Swann’s comments on that players not be paid to be well, bad.
Players are not contracted for games, they are contracted for a length of time and as far as I know that includes breaks. It is one thing if they caused the shutdown, but they didnt. Their contracts far as I know, are not open contracts that can be ended anytime but guerenteed unless they do something horrible and void it. I’m sure a virus pandemic isn’t one of those breaking conditions too (which should have a backup clause sure, but negotiated by both parties before signing).
If you’re mad that you didnt for see a century wide virus pandemic, then too bad for not signing it as a condition the first place. You didnt like then next time contract for games then, and see whether the player accepts it or not or maybe ask for higher base wage. These days, more and more money is tied to performances bonus anyways than base wage.
The PFA has screwed up in some areas, some of the stick they get is warranted, some not. But as a union, times like this are where they protect the players especially those of the lower leagues. That doesn’t mean not compromise to keep clubs alive, but arbitrarily not paying them when the is tight contract stipulates so? Yeah that’s another thing.
Its easy to think of rich multimilllionaire stereotype when it comes to footballers, that is certainly true of the EPL in general and maybe the Championship to some extent. But League One and Two players don’t earn much as far as I know (League Two has a wage limit for god’s sake) and have have the limitations of short career and uncertainties that come with it.
Not saying it is the worse job in the world (they are worst paying and more dangerous) but some players of this category earn little money on short contracts with little guerentees and certainly took some time/training to hone their skills. They have bills, mortgages and families to feed too.
Some sacrifice will be needed, even in the lower league players’ side but that will be their call to make together cos they don’t benefit from the club going down either. Running a League Two club in the midst of a global economic crisis, I can sort of sympathize with Swann to some extent, but that to say don’t deserve their salary cos they’re not playing? Then put it in the contract in the first place. You are running a professional legal entity, not a school clubhouse.
Yaru, Malaysia
NUFC and Whataboutery
Dear F365,
A lot of debate about the possible ownership of NUFC and as usual with any debate on the tinternet these days, the usual whatboutery keeps popping up. So, just to provide a personal view about this from a Newcastle supporter who’s currently having to spend time pondering the morality of this (because Newcastle have spent 40 years coming up with new and ingenious ways of torturing me and wasting my time, this being the absolute pinnacle).
1. There is, absolutely, a moral difference between retailers, bankers, financiers, and people you just don’t like and describe as loathsome on twitter, and a regime that regularly kills and oppresses people in more or less direct ways. There just is. Mike Ashley, much as I despise him, never deliberately bombed a Yemeni hospital. Zero hours contracts are a disgrace that should prompt a revolution in how we think about industry. They are not the murder and dismemberment of a journalist. Owning a hedge fund makes you a twat. It doesn’t make you an actual dictator responsible for beheadings. On that basis, then, there is only club in Britain that is owned by people anywhere near as morally compromised as the Saudis. And that’s Sunderland. Only kidding. It’s Man City, obviously.
2. It doesn’t matter that there are other owners, in Britain, or the world, that are as bad, or nearly as bad. Because I don’t support them. I’m not a fan of them. I don’t give them money, wear their shirt, add my voice to theirs, make them an interesting commercial or cultural proposition. They don’t belong to me. In fact, at least twice a season I’ll call them twats and actively wish them to be beaten.
3. So, while being part of the whole circus of football compromises us all in the same way that buying fast fashion makes us distantly responsible for labour standards in bangladesh, it’s only when your club is actually bought by someone who puts women who want the vote in jail and keeps a large population of workers in a state of semi-slavery that this stuff becomes genuinely relevant to you. And you do, genuinely, have to make a decision about that comes down to, fundamentally, do you support that regime? Do you support the use of the money they have generated via their dictatorship to buy someone who can drop a ball onto a five-pence piece in the box? Are you going to cheer that PROJECT on on a Saturday afternoon?
4. It doesn’t matter what other clubs do, it doesn’t really matter what the objective of the exercise is from the Saudi point of view. It matters that this is who they are and where they get the money from, and you are either supporting it or not. It’s as simple as that, really. Anything else is just white-wash and self-justification for a decision that you are choosing to make, as an adult.
Which is fun.
Simon (not likely for much longer) NUFC
No chance this is getting published in the mailbox (MC – that’s what you think!) but I thought I would write in with some views on the Newcastle takeover (still won’t believe it is real until I see Amanda Staveley riding a camel round the pitch, burned too many times where takeovers are concerned) and the Twitter storm and moral outcry from various media outlets and football supporters over the last few days.
I’ll caveat the below by saying the below is not a dig at Football365 specifically, love the site and have been a reader for many years. Your content is a lot more balanced than most where morality is concerned and is always thought provoking even if I don’t always agree with it.
Personally, I’m delighted that Mike Ashley looks to be on his way out and the club is being taken over by investors with a lot of resources and will hopefully make the club competitive again. All I want is a club I can enjoy supporting and does it’s best to try and win the competitions it enters which for me (Jeff) is the entire point of sport. If you aren’t trying to win why bother competing?
So, what about the nature of the potential new owners and their backgrounds. The alleged murder of a journalist, human rights abuses, the war in Yemen etc.
Honestly, I really couldn’t give a shit and most NUFC fans probably don’t either. Same as I don’t care that my smartphone parts are made in China, my clothes are probably made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh, my car runs on petrol from the Middle East, animals are killed to feed me every day and my online shopping gets delivered by Amazon. Call that morally repugnant if you will, I prefer to think I live in the real world, where no one is perfect, I care about family and myself first, most other things a distant second and we all have to put up with things we don’t like because that’s life. I also think if it really came down to brass tacks the vast majority of people would be honest enough to admit they are exactly the same. Sure, there will be exceptions to that rule, good for you, I’m honest enough to admit to myself I’m not one of those people.
Now to the various pieces by journalists and media outlets saying how terrible it is that such a regime should become involved in Newcastle United and it shouldn’t happen, it’s sports washing, etc etc. My response would be ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone’. Your employers are part owned by Saudi Arabia, you all use a smartphone and laptop, your websites are covered in betting adverts. You make a living commenting on the Premier League, that bastion of good moral standing, and you’ll all be covering the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. For a lot of you, your country and mine (the UK) has done worse things over the last 300 years of colonialism, slavery, wars in the Middle East etc than Saudi Arabia has ever done.
But that’s just whataboutery… Whataboutery is what hypocrites use to deflect from their hypocrisy. If it is of such importance to the sport then use the position of influence you have and do something about it. Stop buying goods and services from companies that are considered morally questionable, stop showing betting adverts, fight for the rules on ownership to be changed, don’t write about the Premier League, don’t cover the 2022 World Cup etc etc. Campaign against it, encourage others to do the same and practice what you preach. You certainly have a greater ability to affect the football world than a regular fan does.
But that’s not my responsibility, I’m just doing my job or it’s different in my situation, I have a career to think about etc will be the response.
It’s easy to criticise but responsibility and choice start with the individual. If you don’t take responsibility for yourself and your choices then don’t complain about being called a hypocrite and try to deflect. Or be honest enough with yourself to admit that you might think these things are bad but if they meant making a change, or doing something difficult that puts you out then they suddenly become a bit less bad and you aren’t really as bothered about it as you might say. You’ve always got a choice and whilst some are much harder to make than others they are still a choice.
In summary, walk the walk if you are going to talk to the talk or be honest with yourself that you won’t and lets all get back to what we enjoy which is football not the circus that surrounds it.
Dave, Washington
I cried today…
I cried today. I watched the video obiturary for Norman Hunter on The Guardian website and the moment Hunter, interviewed just last year, looking healthy, determined and resolute said “… in my lifetime I’d like to see us back in the Premiership …”. That was me calling for the Kleenex.
He would have, too. If only … you can fill in the rest yourselves. He died from the virus, and Leeds United have not claimed the prize because of the virus. It’s a bastard.
I’m a Chelsea fan, but I can reel off the names of that magnificent Leeds side as easily as my Chelsea heroes. I’m still in shock that we beat them in the FA Cup Replay in 1970. He didn’t just “bite yer leg” – that was conceit from a journalist in the “Yorkshire Post” which stuck. He had the skill, the intelligence and a left foot to astonish you.
It’s been a tough week with Hunter and Peter Bonetti both passing in the same week.
Fuck.
Steve, Los Angeles
Bias of commentators
Dear F365,
Ben (Wales for the foreseeable future) made a good attempt to argue that most accusations of bias against journalists or commentators are most likely due to knee jerks and one eyed partiality. But sometimes…
Opening day of last season, Wolves against Everton, live on BT Sport. Steve McManaman, apparently not realising his microphone was still on, said to someone with him, “I don’t like Wolves”. Believe me, Steve, in all your commentaries since, you’ve done nothing to disprove that confession.
Keep safe,
Paul Quinton, Wolves
Erm…can someone send Ben stuck in Wales a link of Martin Samuel latest nonsense. Or a link to mediawatch will do.
Open your eyes Ben.
Ginger Pirlo
World XI challenge
I found that World XI challenge surprisingly difficult, here’s my attempt;
GK: Oliver Kahn – Germany (Karlsruher/Bayern)
DC: Paolo Maldini – Italy (AC Milan)
DC: Toby Alderwiereld – Belgium (Ajax/Atletico/Southampton/Spurs)
DC: Sergio Ramos – Spain (Sevilla/Real Madrid)
CM: Roy Keane – Ireland (Cobh/Forest/Man Utd/Celtic)
CM: Gilberto Silva – Brazil (At. Minero/Arsenal/Panikanithos)
AM: Pavel Nedved – Czech Rep (Sparta Prague/Lazio/Juventus)
AM: Lionel Messi – Argentina (Barcelona)
AM: Steven Gerrard – England (Liverpool)
CF:Didier Drogba – Ivory Coast (Marseille/Chelsea/a f**k tonne of others)
CF: Edison Cavani – Uruguay (Palermo/Napoli/PSG)
Néill Ryan
Just seen Shane in Kilkennys world XI in fridays mailbox.
He’s picked Roy Keane and John Terry.
Everyone knows they both played for Forest.
Unlucky son.
Al (Wolves)
Dutch strikers…
To help Cheesom from Nigeria with his striker conundrum perhaps we’ll keep the fullbacks Brazilian and add a few Dutch strikers…
…Van Nisterlrooy, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Van Persie and Cryuff.
TX Bill (witty comments quarantined at present) EFC
I’m sure this has been thought of but…
Hi,
So, I’ve been thinking about how to handle the end of this season and I will admit that I’m a Liverpool supporter so have a bias.
One thing that I feel should be getting more coverage and I’m surprised it hasn’t been is that this season should just continue as and when it can be and should just finish whenever it can. The way to do this would be to cancel the 2020/2021 league season to allow for this season to continue whenever this current apocalypse ends. This way promotions / relegations happen as normal but carry over to next next season.
The cup competitions could also continue as well. Next season there could be shortened timelines for the cup competitions potentially due to the lack of league action. This would have benefits in that the cup competitions would be reinvigorated as they would be the major honours. Also, this might allow England players a bit of a break / time to practice as a team ahead of euro 2020 so we have a half decent chance in the tournament assuming we all don’t live a mad max lifestyle by then.
Anyway, as I say I’m sure this has been mentioned countless times but I needed to say it out loud to someone and my wife doesn’t give a f*ck.
Thanks
Rob
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