A Martin Luther Type Dream
Northampton Town is running a scheme called “Save Our Season” to assist the club to overcome financial difficulties following the collapse of ITV Digital. £500,000 is required to “Save Our Season” and the generosity of fans attending home games is amazing. As yet no rich saviour has come forward to plough the money so badly needed to comfortably run Northampton Town, crazy in a town this size. So what next????
Why not look to our fellow professional clubs? Not for clubs to put money into their competitors, but for fellow players. Many Premiership players earn in excess of £50,000 a week and isn’t it time they put something back into a sport that they have taken so much from?
The key word is sport! Football is a sport and it’s being killed by the greed at the top, which will ultimately force the lower leagues to struggle. Remember the Football Trust that was set up to assist clubs with ground improvements following the Taylor Report in the 1990’s. If every Premiership player was to donate a weeks wages into a trust fund this season, this could be used to assist clubs with financial difficulties. The trust could be operated on a similar basis to the Football Trust where clubs could apply for support. This would save a lot of clubs who have financial troubles amounting to a drop in the ocean in football terms.
Many players earn too much money to know what to do with it and where to spend it, Manchester United’s Roy Keane for example! Managed to negotiate a contract believed to be in excess of £100,000 a week. (Five weeks wages would “Save Our Season”) Keane has barely played this season! Wayne Rooney, dubbed the teenage sensation, is believed to have signed a deal worth £10,000 per week at Everton, in excess of £500,000 a year (enough to Save Our Season), not bad at 17 years old!
Every season players all over the country in all four divisions turn down contract because their wages aren’t increased. I was grateful for a 2% pay increase this year.
At the other end of the scale, Chris Hargreaves was reported to have taken a pay cut to stay with the Cobblers, turning down offers at other clubs believing to be higher paid positions. Now that’s loyalty! Marco Gabbiadini was reported to say that he wishes to stay at Northampton when his contract expires at the end of the season and he is also willing to take a pay cut. Jerry Gill is reported to have taken a pay cut from Premiership Birmingham City to play first team football at Northampton Town. If this is going on at Northampton, what happens at the other clubs who have the same financial constraints?
Fans of Northampton Town are putting money into “Saving Our Season”, on a personal note I have supported the campaign with a number of donations. I have taken at least one other new fan to every home game so far this season at a cost of at least £17 a game. I have donated £2 to the car park scheme every game, bought two lucky draw tickets costing £1 each that I didn’t previously buy. I spent money in the club shop and applied for some non-voting shares that is also money that I wouldn’t have put into the club. This is on top of my season ticket, buying a programme and paying on the gate for cup games, something I have done for the past countless seasons. Suppose I put an extra £500 into Northampton Town this season, on top of my regular spends, this accounts for more than a weeks wages for most people. Imagine what would happen if the Premiership high earners followed my suit? I’m sure they would miss it less too!
It’s a real shame that all the money in football goes to the top and it’s always the rich who benefit. Take for instance Wigan Athletic, the Lancashire club are riding high at the top of the 2nd Division with a wealthy backer, the future is looking bright at the JJB Stadium. Yet Wigan who are considered to be a rich club were chosen to be shown on Sky Sports three times in the space of a few weeks. Their midweek Worthington Cup home tie with Manchester City, a derby visit to Blackpool the following Sunday followed by an F A Cup 1st round trip to Hereford the following Saturday. How much did Wigan make from this I wonder, I’m sure it would have been very close to “Saving Our Season” Wigan obviously benefited from these TV screenings, but Hereford and Blackpool would have noticed the money more.
This is a massive, massive dream of one loyal supporter of a 2nd Division club, but football is a sport, traditionally followed by the working class. Now is the time to bring football back down to earth before the whole thing spirals even further out of control and the game that millions in the UK love dies forever.