I hope you are all well and surviving the lockdown. I can tell you that football has dropped way down my list of priorities and therefore, I find myself sympathetic to a recovering alcoholic.
I am binge watching TV series on Netflix. I’ve got through seven seasons of Homeland and am in the middle of Madmen. My eyes have turned square.
Karren Brady, in her usual oblivious way, came straight out at the beginning of the crisis and stated that the Premier League season should be cancelled. It is typical of her to try to take advantage of a situation, although it didn’t take long for her to be gagged and reverse 180 degrees. I believe it would be right to out her in permanent furlough.
We have no control over the London Stadium and the next argument will be over whether they still convert it for athletics over the summer at the obscene cost of £8 million with the possibility that football will be played alongside a running track.
The question of whether players should be kept being paid is being discussed and West Ham are one of the first clubs to agree to a deferral of part of their pay. Force Majeure is not part of their contracts , as they are not shipping containers. However, a club could plead contract frustration, as an event has occured, which is not the fault of either party, but which prevents the contract from being fulfilled. However, if it is found a contract has been frustrated, the club may lose the signing fee and a player would be free to join another club without penalty.
Meanwhile, we have the argument about players’ pay. I sympathise with the players, in that any pay cut they take will go straight into the owners’ pockets, On the other hand, we are surely going to see some clubs going into administration. It would be an achievement, however, if they recognised that taking their pay, whilst others are losing their jobs, is unseemly.
Our shirt sponsor, Basset & Gold have gone into administration. It is another example of Brady grabbing money where she can. It would have taken 5 minutes to realise that the bonds they were offering were extremely high risk and another 5 minutes to find out from their accounts that any money they raised was transferred to another company in their group and then abroad. Anyway, £34 million has been lost. It would seem that money went into another company called Uncle Buck, which has also gone into administration. I hope no West Ham fans have lost their money and if so, Brady should recompense them out of her obscene salary.
The main question is how the Premier League will be able to keep its hands on the £750 million that they are owed for television rights this season. There is little doubt that we shall see the season played out behind close doors. I saw an article that suggested everyone would be flown out to China. Perhaps Elon Musk will take everybody to the moon.
I smile when I see there is still speculation as to who we shall transfer in the summer window. Sullivan and Gold are probably minus billionaires now, so there won’t be any fund for buying players. We shall have to sell to stay afloat. And if the TV money goes, then administration will be a real possibility. Perhaps Sullivan and Gold will be employed next season to wave the flags prior to the games. Betway should be taking bets on whether either or both go bust.
In any event, we know that West Ham are the first club to break ranks and announce they are having a £30 million rights issue. Why a rights issue, instead of a loan? Perhaps, Gold can’t afford anything and we shall see his proportion of the rights issue going to others.
By the way, if you subscribe to BT sport, you need to log into your account and tick the box to state you want two month’s credit. I have no idea why they haven’t applied this automatically. It took me ten minutes to navigate myself to the correct page.