Thetownend.com

After Covid.

Now we know pretty much how the land lies, I reckon they’ll be no football with fans for over 12 months.

By that time numerous clubs will have gone kaput, laying dormant - call it what you will. How any remaining clubs will emerge and be able to get a squad together along with non playing staff and with no money, I don’t know.

Some clubs will be gone forever, others could restart as part time. The footballing structure will have to be overhauled completely. Some PL clubs will be off to the European Super League. TV won’t be interested in the English rump to any great extent so I’d imagine it could be similar to the pre Sky era of well run clubs have a chance of being successful (whatever that will mean).

What STFC would look like I hate to think.

If things are as we are lead to believe - probably a lot better than a lot of other clubs.

As far as I can tell, most (if not all) of our debt is to our owner. I don't know how many others clubs can say the same.

Hope you’re right.

It’s really fucked everything up.

Interesting statement from Colchester.

Already told players out of contract they wanted to keep, wont be kept on due to Corona

I can see clubs binning players whether they have a contract or not.

I had a quick look and after June 30 we still have about 12 senior players under contract.

If the season resumed and the industry (namely those who represent footballers) didn't embrace the FIFA endorsed extension of contracts beyond June 30 then it would be problematic for lower league football to say the least.

Our out of contract players...

Eoin Doyle
Anthony Grant
Jordan Lyden* - New deal pending
Mathieu Baudry
Lloyd Isgrove
Keshi Anderson
Danny Rose
Kaiyne Woolery
Ellis Iandolo
Luke McCormick
Will Henry* - Known option
Joe Romanski
Jacob Bancroft
Ralph Graham
Archie Matthews
Luke Haines

Worst case scenario could see loan players return as they have a set date on their temporary deal which could allow parent clubs to recall.

Steven Benda
Jerry Yates
Diallang Jaiyesimi
Rarmani Edmonds-Green
Admiral Muskwe

Bit more info on this here, and bizarrely a photo that makes the Colchester chairman look like a vampire

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2020-04-27/colchester-united-release-a-number-of-senior-players-in-wake-of-covid-19-pandemic/

Not really sure what the point is as I assume they will still be paying the players until 30th June and whatever happens we should all have a better clue what is likely to happen then, its not as if they will have a clamour of other clubs offering them contracts in the meantime as everyone is in the same boat? 

Ryan Jackson would be a decent signing - for someone.

Dreadful time ahead for players. I think the GP’s want of a final good pay day may be wishful thinking now.

Eventually stadiums and fans going to games will be extinct.
Clubs will just have one indoor, all purpose, state of the art artificial pitch and stream games to people’s homes.
The overheads you’d save in land ownership, stadium maintenance, police & non playing match day staff would be huge.
Games would never get called off due to the weather. You wouldn’t need a home pitch & a training facility.
The only logistical fall back is how you’d stop multiple people watching one stream at one persons house / pub.

Whilst I might be in the minority, but with a young family & being at work till 6am Saturday morning I’d be much more inclined to roll out of bed at 14:55 hit a few buttons on my smart tv and watch STFC in my pyjamas than going to the effort of going.

Loooong way off but think we will get to that point one day

I so hope you are so fucking wrong.

DV(alid) Pint Chang

I could well be...but...just in the long run think it will be cost effective for the clubs.
I don’t claim to be an expert on any clubs finances but I can’t imagine stadiums are cheap to own / run / maintain and some are only used around 25-30 times a season.

As far as I know we pay rent on the land the CG is on and also we have to pay the maintenance costs to. Huge overheads, I’d imagine.

The lower league clubs would probably gladly cut those overheads to survive and the bigger clubs could tap into overseas markets and probably triple their ‘attendances’

That happens to a certain degree in this country already, plastic prem armchair 'fans'.

Well, yeah - exactly. The clubs in theory have missed a trick by allowing Sky Sports and other foreign channels to have the rights to show the games.

I wonder how much (more or less) money the clubs would make if they were streaming their own games worldwide and taking 100% of the profit themselves

What you're describing there is effectively the end of football, and the creation of a new Netflix-style online entertainment offering.  I can't see it going this way, really.  There is always going to be a market for people who want to grab a drink & a bite to eat with friends before screaming like a lunatic with thousands of like-minded obsessives for 90 mins.  There could well be implications for how players are recruited and contracted, but I think the risks to live football are exaggerated.

I think people would still go for the day out. It's not just about the footy for some, but also the atmosphere, the pub, being with mates, and so on. I know I'd prefer to go in person if I could.

If it was all about the football, I'd have packed Swindon in years ago.  You're absolutely right.  It's about matchday rituals, about meeting your friends, about getting out of the house for the day and about belonging to something.

Exactly

Absolutely.

I fully understand what people are saying about preferring to go. I get that but the clubs will do what is financially beneficial for them, regardless.

Plus, as I’ve said there is probably a market for those who can’t / won’t go who would stream from home.

I think you have a valid point. Who knows what changes will happen.

It's not just that people will always want to go though, is it? Part of watching it at home is seeing and hearing the supporters in the ground. Without that it may as well be Legend's 5-a-side matches. A few would watch, especially if there was no alternative. Most wouldn't.

Bus trip into town, meet up with friends, few beers, lots of piss taking, funny songs and comments, decent result on the pitch, big bacon cheese burger at half time, sometimes another beer after the game, bus home. Go to sleep on the sofa. Good times.

agreed football is nothing without fans. but will gladly watch on ifollow in absence of an alternative.. temporarily.

how will football look after all this? I can't see how it can survive in its current form without financial support. problem is, it's not really in the interests of those with the money (who also have issues).

ifollow subscriptions won't keep a club alive. especially as I think not making home games free to those that have payed for season tickets as a bit of a scandal. merch revenues will be down too, not sure how much we make on that though .

can see players will have to temporarily take massive pay cuts to stay in football until this is over.

worry this will be the leverage the Prem need to get b-teams in , in exchange for wonga

I'm with you. It's not just the game itself, in fact quite often it's not even the game itself. There have been whole seasons recently, under Flitcroft especially, where the football was so bad, the only reason I was bothering at all was to meet up with mates I only see at football. If it had been on telly, I very much doubt I'd have watched.

Yes,  but next to none of that has any significance to the club itself.
Even if you buy the beers and the food directly from the club - I still think in the long run the club would save by not having the overheads of running the food kiosks and bars, still just guessing like...

If to be played behind closed doors, they should play a bit of crowd noise on the tannoy. feels wrong writing it but this isnt normal and one of the biggest things I hate about behind closed doors or even friendlies is the silence and hearing players shout. watching it in silence makes it seem unofficial and meaningless. you cant beat a crowd and this would only be until they return obviously

And then there's the fun of away games too

In our case, it makes no difference as both the costs and the profits are down to a 3rd party catering company thanks to Jed selling off the catering rights for a decade.
In the general case, are you suggesting that catering at football clubs is run at a loss? Because it's usually considered to be a primary revenue stream for many clubs that don't have lucrative TV deals

I have no idea what the catering is run at, nor the bars or the actual stadium itself.
Although most clubs are in it have historical financial trouble, of course there is a chance all the debt is racked up with regards to player wages and transfer fees.

Even if the Catering is run at a profit in itself - the ground may still run at a loss, if that makes sense.

It’s all guessing and assumptions on my part of course but streaming is the future (well it’s already here but you know what I mean) physical DVDs and Computer games will be phased out. There are even ‘straight to’ films on the streaming services. I don’t see why Sport wouldn’t eventually go down this route.

If it did - I’m sure at some point the discussion would occur whether live crowds and stadiums were still cost effective.

I don't think there are many clubs that would be breaking even on player wages and transfer fees if only it weren't for that damn burger van dragging them under :)

Yes that's fair enough, although again I'm pretty sure the major expense of any professional football club is the players' salaries.

Would have thought it would be quite a profitable business,  especially at the prices they charge.

Wonder where the club will stand on this if the season is cancelled, what with the catering contract being sold on the basis of 'x' no games a season?

We can borrow Southends fake drum recording. No not really It's awful.

This is pertinent: Kieran Maguire has calculated the annual contribution per fan of matchday fans (i.e. those that actually attend games) in the Premiership and Championship

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1255155543531913225

Even at the lowest end (Wigan) it's £205 per fan pa. Wigan's avg home attendance was 11,661 which works out at £2.4m per season or £104k per game from matchday fans. There's no way it costs over 2 million quid in stadium costs. So the income generated by matchgoing fans is a substantial contributor to the revenue of the club. Indeed, for most clubs, it's overwhelmingly their primary source of revenue

Iv forgot the exact details but iv posted previously, there are a number of items we get money from it isnt solely all catering.

Rumours Charlton going into admin on Friday

Lots of rumours of Southend being in a similar position too.

I know. We don't get any money from catering. I've said that in the post you quoted.

Surprised they've lasted that long, absolute shit show going on there. Classic case of be careful what you wish for.

FIFA’s Chief Medical Officer has said there should be no games played before September.

How times change.  Go back 20 yrs, and Charlton were held up as a model community football club that rose to the top flight in a sustainable way.  Remember being quite envious of them at one time.  And the Valley is a lovely ground as well.

On medical terms he may have made the right call. Then again, he’ll still get paid, handsomely....

...and then Alan Curbishley getting then a lower mid table finish in the Premier League wasn’t enough and they moved on from him and haven’t recovered since...

Southend have been having those rumours regularly for the last 10 years really.

I could have wrote that better. We get 70% on liquid sales. It isnt just the catering firm that takes it all.

Ah I see. Fair enough

I know it’s The Mail, but . . . Yeeeeez!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8262315/Physios-191-000-kit-men-56-000-Crazy-wages-dont-add-EFL-clubs-brink.html

Very interesting read, thank you.

If accurate I’m surprised as some of figures for league 2. Several coaching positions under £30k, kitman only on 20K

I'm sure most fans would love to be directly involved and work for their side. Not so much at those wages.

is kit man a full time position? as £20k for a few days a week doesnt sound a disaster. cant think of what you could do for 40 hours per week washing kit. unless they take control of lee powers personals as well!

If anything, some of those are on the high side. Rovers advertised for a Head of Academy Coaching position at £25k a couple of years ago. OK, it was an Academy rather than 1st team role, but still a senior position within the Academy that they were looking for someone with a decade or more's experience, A license etc. Coaching positions in lower league clubs are generally quite poorly paid.

Bit more to it than that
https://www.newport-county.co.uk/siteassets/vacancies/kit-manager-job-description.pdf

£49,500 to be a manager at our level, seems pretty crap to me.

I could see them working 6 days - during the week around the training ground and then prepping for Saturday. Depends how far the kit man's remit at each club goes, whether they look after all kit at the club or just 1st team/ressies.

Especially given as I doubt it’s exactly a 40 hour a week job during the season

Kitman is heart and soul of the dressing room

Got pissed with the Doncaster Rovers one and their gk coach the night before my brothers wedding as they were staying at the hotel before playing Palace the next day. They even blagged their way into an office christmas party

O’driscoll was their manager at the time and they hated him, called him O’Dismal

Wellens has said much the same about our kitman and his assistant to both Rich on the LS pod and BBC Wilts

Eddie Buckley was an essential part of the dressing rooms in the 70s, 80s and 90s at Swindon too. Macari says he was a major part of his success at Swindon.

Interesting job description. Bit of everything, can’t believe this bit though: To clean and prepare boots for all First Team players and staff. Should be the youth team!