No fans and (yet another) Tory Government disgrace!

It didn't come as a huge shock earlier this week to hear murmurings of supporters being allowed back into football stadiums at some point in the next few weeks.

Quite how it makes sense, given that the country is currently in lockdown and experiencing it's highest Covid-19 infection numbers since the pandemic began, is another matter. If it happens (and I expect it will), it'll be yet another perplexing decision from the most illogical Government in my lifetime!

On the flip side, at least it'll be less stupid than allowing people to gather in indoor sports bars at 'elite' grounds across the country on matchdays when there's a spacious empty ground with a game taking place behind-closed-doors on the other side of some closed curtains.

The good old days at St James' Park, Newcastle, when fans were allowed in stadiums.

In my opinion, the Government's entire handling of the Coronavirus crisis has been a total shambles and after nine months of cluelessness, it's not going to get any better now. The everyday restrictions for most of this year has done untold damage to so many lives and so many businesses and I've no doubt the ramifications will continue well beyond the point at which everyone is vaccinated and the WHO officially declares the pandemic as over.

Onto football and what I think is a total disgrace is the way in which expectations have been placed upon the Premier League to provide some sort of financial bailout for EFL clubs.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are vast sums in the Premier League and the very fact it's member clubs spent around a billion pounds during the summer transfer window proves that they're wealthy and the impact of the virus hasn't had any significant effect on them.

However, those clubs have earned the right to be in the Premier League. They deserve to be there, they've achieved it on merit and, ultimately, they deserve to scoop as much money as possible whilst they're competing at that level. Those running the PL, who lets not remember split from the EFL nearly 30 years ago because they were being held back, have been smart and savvy enough to market their product so effectively in years since that they're now able to attract eye-watering sums. 

So why should they give it up to help clubs lower down the ladder? Football is a business, not a charity and frankly, so what if they're accused of greed? It's akin to the Government telling the biggest construction companies across the country to 'bail out' smaller ones!

Rotherham's New York Stadium - why can't fans be socially distanced here?

I know this might not be a popular opinion but, frankly, the EFL is owed nothing by the Premier League - and if they are to part with what is effectively 'bail out money' to those clubs lower down the pyramid, they're well within their rights to want something in return. The accusations of a 'power grab' being made over 'Project Big Picture' is ridiculous because they could easily not offer anything!

The biggest culprits in not helping out the EFL is the Government!

I can see the rationale why, in some respects, they don't want to provide a 'bail out' like they have done for some other sports or even clubs in the National League who've received financial support.

But the fact is simple. Every club in the EFL has been forced to play behind-closed-doors based due to Government legislation and its resulted in income being lost which has swelled overall 'operating losses' - primarily through a lack of gate receipts.

Despite all the talk, no financial help has been forthcoming - even after the £300M 'bail out' for other sports was confirmed yesterday, so how the hell can the Government tell the Premier League they must help, when it's their restrictions (imposed rightly or wrongly) which has caused the financial worries/problems?

Amongst the 72 clubs in the EFL, there are many different types of owners. There are those who'll passionately throw every penny they've got at their football club, out of love. There are those who'll run a tight ship and call it 'prudence' as they live within their means. There are others who own clubs purely for their own ego so they can show it off to their cronies. There are those who'll see owning a football club as an investment opportunity.

The KC Stadium: Hull City.

I certainly wouldn't trust every word a football club says. I've seen too many egos, heard too many things from behind-the-scenes at clubs and I'm far too long in the tooth to take anything that's said at face-value - after all, would anyone trust a word spoken by someone like Steve Dale (the chairman who got Bury FC booted out the EFL only last year)?

Amongst the many EFL clubs, some will have viewed the pandemic as an excuse to cut costs or get rid of faces which don't fit within their organisation or pleaded poverty because the wealthy owner(s) are tight. Others will want 'financial help' so they don't have to invest as much. But, somewhere, there will be some genuine cases - quite possibly fan-run clubs who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet and wondering where the next pennies are coming from. 

If you help one club, you've got to help them all, but this Government is simply helping nobody and I find it utterly disgraceful that they've pinned responsibility on the Premier League to do so. Oliver Dowden, the minister for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been totally useless when it's come to helping football clubs through this pandemic.

Whilst I actually agree with a Government statement a few months ago that clubs need to find creative ways to generate income during the crisis; naturally some will be better at it than others. The 'salary cap' introduced in the summer for those in League One and League Two is also another positive step in the long-term which should help to address clubs' bank balances - even though flaws and loop-holes will inevitably get found and exposed at some stage as that's just the nature of the football industry. It also does nothing to help Championship clubs, nevertheless, when many of them have been a financial 'ticking time bomb' for several years already!

Fans pack out the Kassam Stadium... and a new era is now definitely upon us!

If the Premier League want to make what is perceived as a 'power grab' in return for a bail out, they're entitled to and I'd support them 100% in wanting that.

Again though, why the burden should fall on them when the Government haven't offered any financial support and have caused losses through their 'no fans' restrictions? It's flabbergasting and scandalous - so much so that I'd love to hear what the Supreme Court has to say about it, and it's something which needs to be scrutinised a hell of a lot more than it has been done. 

The same football fans who are quick to 'nay-say' and point fingers at the Premier League for ruining that so-called 'beautiful' game - and will do so if/when some club calls in the administrators because they can't financially cope any longer, need to remember that the Government have abandoned EFL clubs.

My hope is that fact is remembered, particularly, when it comes to the next General Election!