Nothing's been exposed. As you said, we knew all this before. Although nurses do a much more important job than footballers, it's much easier to become a nurse than it is to become a Premier League level football player. The salary is decided by their replaceability rather than how important their job is. That won't change when this is over.

Not to be pedantic but nurses are not remotely replaceable, there’s a shortage numbering in the tens of thousands in the NHS.

The real difference is that while footballers are a commodity that make their employers a lot of money, all nurses do is treat people and save lives.

I explained what I meant by replaceability in the sentence before.

If you want your nurses to make more, tax your footballers a lot more and pay them. Not every country can afford thst, but in a wealthy country with multi millionaire footballers, it’s possible. As for what footballers make, that’s what the market dictates. Football is a global money spinner. If the money doesn’t end up with them, it will most likely be eaten by Kroenke, Levy and Gazidis. It’s not like it will be give. Back to the fans or shared with Tranmere Rovers.

So as usual governments in the west are propping up billionaires, corporations, investors, etc with public money and the response to this is "footballers are paid too much".

Claudius wrote:

They’ll lose fans during the recession. I think football makes the mistake of thinking that it’s a unique pastime, but it isn’t.

They're removing it from what made it unique, the sense of community, etc They're turning groups of passionate fans into consumers with brand loyalty. The thing about brand loyalty is it changes a lot more quickly than genuine communities.

Qwiss! wrote:
Claudius wrote:

They’ll lose fans during the recession. I think football makes the mistake of thinking that it’s a unique pastime, but it isn’t.

They're removing it from what made it unique, the sense of community, etc They're turning groups of passionate fans into consumers with brand loyalty. The thing about brand loyalty is it changes a lot more quickly than genuine communities.

Precisely. It’s becoming more and more commoditized. I grew up walking to the football stadium, walking up and down the stalls outside the stadium buying my food and drink, and then going in to sing and dance. And the day before and after the game you meet at ‘the tree’ to talk about how the referee was cheating and the manager was confused. In an age where tickets are super expensive and it’s all geared towards one’s ability to surf from channel to channel picking their favorite big club, the dynamic changes. Suddenly although the basket of money is bigger, the leagues are perfect substitutes for each other, tenuously anchored on a few big clubs. And football itself has close alternatives in other sports and entertainment.

What’s crazy for me is they make so much TV money, they could afford to hold onto the match day experience.

Claudius wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:

They're removing it from what made it unique, the sense of community, etc They're turning groups of passionate fans into consumers with brand loyalty. The thing about brand loyalty is it changes a lot more quickly than genuine communities.

Precisely. It’s becoming more and more commoditized. I grew up walking to the football stadium, walking up and down the stalls outside the stadium buying my food and drink, and then going in to sing and dance. And the day before and after the game you meet at ‘the tree’ to talk about how the referee was cheating and the manager was confused. In an age where tickets are super expensive and it’s all geared towards one’s ability to surf from channel to channel picking their favorite big club, the dynamic changes. Suddenly although the basket of money is bigger, the leagues are perfect substitutes for each other, tenuously anchored on a few big clubs. And football itself has close alternatives in other sports and entertainment.

What’s crazy for me is they make so much TV money, they could afford to hold onto the match day experience.

Some clubs would much rather have visiting tourists in the match day crowd because they're much more likely to use the services and buy club merch. It was inevitable in London since there are so many tourists visiting at any given time but you can see Manchester really pivoting hard this decade into using football as 'the' main attraction in the city. And this is supported by local businesses and councils too so it's a tricky one.

Thats a dangerous game too. You should see Dublin airport early on a Saturday morning, there are loads of lads heading to England for games on cheap Ryanair flights. Only a matter of time before airlines get hit hard by emissions taxes and those cheap flights go away. A few years ago I was going to London five or six times a year to watch Arsenal on same day trips.

So Liverpool have backtracked their decision to furlough staff , only did it due to the backlash. What a farce.

Disgusting club. They are really classless trying to take advantage of a pandemic

Happy for their staff. This is the worst time to lose your job.

GooneriC wrote:

So Liverpool have backtracked their decision to furlough staff , only did it due to the backlash. What a farce.

Watch the media get behind them and give them a pat on the back. Only done this because even their own fans were disgusted by their behaviour.

A lot of clubs will need help but those who don't should show some responsibility here. Those on low wages will be a few million at most they'll need to pay, in the grand scheme of things that is nothing to them.

Claudius wrote:

Happy for their staff. This is the worst time to lose your job.

It is but for a lot of companies this is what it takes to survive. Doesn't apply to PL football clubs, but the lower leagues? This'll be happening.

I think when footy does resume matchgoers will avoid spending on merchandise. That’s what’ll hurt wanker clubs like Tottenham hard. That O2 type arena they’ve built where they squidge fans in was designed to empty their wallets at expensive bars which are dressed up as being glamorous.

Claudius wrote:

Happy for their staff. This is the worst time to lose your job.

It makes no difference to their staff. They were getting paid the same anyway.

banduan wrote:
Claudius wrote:

Happy for their staff. This is the worst time to lose your job.

It is but for a lot of companies this is what it takes to survive. Doesn't apply to PL football clubs, but the lower leagues? This'll be happening.

The majority shouldn't be losing their job - that's the point of furloughing them, at least in the short term.

That only works if the business stays afloat. The ability to furlough staff should help that, but I think the big worry, especially in the lower leagues, is whether they can cope with the other fixed expenses they have until things are back to normal. The clubs will also no doubt be dealing with financial implications of this in coming seasons too, it's not beyond doubt there will be a number of redundancies whilst they try to balance the books once football is back up and running. As will be the case with business in general. That medium to longer term is the big test.

Mirth wrote:
banduan wrote:

It is but for a lot of companies this is what it takes to survive. Doesn't apply to PL football clubs, but the lower leagues? This'll be happening.

The majority shouldn't be losing their job - that's the point of furloughing them, at least in the short term.

well, yes, Pool weren't firing their staff. However they're not the kind of club that needs to furlough staff to survive.

PL clubs should furlough players and top execs before they do the same to non-playing staff.

Tam wrote:

That only works if the business stays afloat. The ability to furlough staff should help that, but I think the big worry, especially in the lower leagues, is whether they can cope with the other fixed expenses they have until things are back to normal. The clubs will also no doubt be dealing with financial implications of this in coming seasons too, it's not beyond doubt there will be a number of redundancies whilst they try to balance the books once football is back up and running. As will be the case with business in general. That medium to longer term is the big test.

Agree, but while redundancies are never good, you'd hope there will be a job market once football is back up and running. Atm if you're making someone redundant, there's no where for them to go. Also hopefully by then most people will have a chance to build a buffer/some savings.