Meeting a childhood hero can be a risky thing. In your mind you have built them up to be bigger and better than they probably are, so the chances are you may well be disappointed that in real life they don’t live up to your lofty expectations. Sometimes we forget that they too are only human.
Twelve years ago I was fortunate to meet my childhood hero, the late great England goalkeeper Gordon Banks. It was not a disappointing meeting. As a man and sitting talking with him for over an hour with our wives, he proved to be a more wonderful person than I could possibly have ever imagined. He was a true gentleman.
During that time together the conversation understandably turned to football and the state of the game at that time compared to in his day.
He was extremely worried about the future of the clubs in the lower two divisions of professional football in England. Now with the restrictions as a result of Covid-19 the future of many of these clubs is truly perilous.
Unfortunately they are a victim of the lack of foresight that not just football, but many sports have. Too many live from year to year, or from television deal to television deal, or Olympic funding cycle to Olympic funding cycle. Very few have adopted a long term plan that will ensure their survival well into the future.
In April 2020 it was reported that the average weekly wage of an English Premier League player was UKL240,000 (AUD$432,188). The top-earner was said to be Manchester United’s Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea, making a reported UKL1.5 million a month (AUD$2,701,178).
When the Pandemic hit and the players were asked to take a reduction in pay it was interesting to watch how things played out. The PFA, which is the players Union announced that the players were prepared to give up some of their income, but, they wanted to know where the money was going. They, so we were told did not want the club owners to keep it. They wanted to have a say as to where the money was being re-directed. Most were happy for the money to spent on community programs and the National Health Service, but they did not want the club owners to simply keep the money.
In Leagues One and Two where the salaries, turnovers and profit-margins are much lower many localised deals were done between the clubs and the players.
The PFA drew the ire of many, especially the clubs, as the union draws the bulk of its income from a share in the Premier leagues’ television deal. Not only that, the Union’s chief Gordon Taylor is reported to be Britain’s highest paid union leader with an annual salary of UKL2.3 million (AUD$4,142,030).
Also in April this year it was revealed that the average wage for the best-paid players in The Championship – the league one below the EPL – was UKL29,000 a week (AUD$52,225). The highest paid player in this league earning UKL68,000 every week (AUD$122,496). Compare that to League One’s top players who it was reported are paid an average of UKL4,753 a week (AUD$8,560), and the gulf is staggering. The top-paid player in League One according to the leaked survey was said to be at a ‘northern club’, and earning UKL15,600 a week(AUD$28,097).
The same survey showed that the average chief executive in the Championship is paid UKL295,179 a year (AUD$531,725). While the goalkeeping coaches are on more than UKL84,000 a year (AUD$151,314) and physiotherapists earned almost UKL70,000 a year(AUD$126,096). Incredible that after four years of studying to become a Physiotherapist, when its comes to football they are one of the lowest paid employees, and yet without them many of the high paid players would not be fit to play!
In that meeting with Gordon Banks he reflected on how many of the up and coming players with English Premier League clubs are loaned out to clubs in the lower divisions to give them game time and experience. Frank Lampard had a spell with Swansea City, David Beckham went to Preston North End, Michael Carrick had loan spells at Swindon Town and Birmingham City. Current England Captain Harry Kane was loaned out from Tottenham to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester City. So clubs outside of the English Premier League played a part in the development of these and many other players who went on to play for their country and become household names.
Then there are of course the number of players who originated at lower league clubs before being transferred to the bigger cashed-up clubs. England’s current goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s career started at Sunderland, but he was loaned out to six clubs by the time he was 22 years old, before eventually being transferred to Everton. Danny Ings, now playing for Southampton and England started in League Two with Bournemouth. While Aston Villa and England’s Tyrone Mings moved from non-league football to a struggling Ipswich Town who at the time were facing relegation in the Championship.
Very few of these clubs are what you would call ‘glamour clubs.’ Yet all played a crucial part in each player’s development. It was Gordon Banks’ view that a percentage of those players wages be paid to those clubs in order to help them survive. It makes sense. A Premier League player averaging UKL240,000 a week is hardly going to miss UKL10,000 a week. A sum that as we have seen would cover the average wage (UKL4,753) of two players per week in League one.
There have been calls for Government funding to help out the clubs in League One and Two, or many may face going to the wall, like Bury and Maccelsfield Town. The former had won promotion the season before and the latter had been relegated. Maccelsfield Town had dropped out of the Football League, and owed Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs UKL188,721.09 (AUD$339,957.97), and had eight creditors owed UKL592,000 (AUD$1,066,245). To the average person large sums of money. However compared to the salaries mentioned it would have been easy for a group of players to prevent a 146 year old club disappearing.
Surely it is time that Football started helping itself?
While everyone understands that a player’s career is short, and they have every right to earn as much as they can in that short career, do they not also have a duty to leave the game in a better place when they leave?
It is a selfish world we live in today, and that is why acts of generosity and kindness, which used to be the norm are now seen as ‘moving’ and ‘refreshing.’ It is ironic that within a team game there is so much selfishness and greed.
Yet there are some who are trying to affect change. It was refreshing to hear Chelsea Manager Frank Lampard say that he would certainly support any plans made by those at the top of the game to help support and ensure the survival of the clubs in the lower divisions. Words of support are one thing, but now is the time for action. As many clubs are barely keeping their heads above water at this point in time.
The Government should not be stepping in to help. Football has to help itself. The clubs are in the main privately owned today, and as we have seen players and CEO’s are extremely well paid in relation to the average weekly earnings in the UK; which is UKL511 per week (AUD$920) according to Government sources. It is time that those in the game re-invested in the game, so that those who follow are given the same opportunities that they had.
Gordon Banks made a valid point in terms of the Premier League players sacrificing some of their salaries to keep the clubs in the lower divisions alive, it is a shame that no one else was listening at the time.
