No Football Club will go bust

[Global Hibby]

Not in France anyway according to President Macron. €300b euros set aside to support the economy. It was so refreshing to see leadership and decisive action in France and I would be very surprised not to see the UK follow France lead later today or tomorrow.

it is a very bold statement for President Macron to say that no French business will go bust due to Covid 19.

[The 90+2]

Johnston needs to confirm government cancellation of football/sports for the clubs to claim insurance badly needed. He stopped short of it yesterday and I hope it wasn’t for that reason.

[Keith_M]

Hi, GH.


I'd imagine that the only clubs the government would be interested in are the top clubs.

I'd love to see the smaller concerns protected, but I doubt it.

[Peevemor]

Not in France anyway according to President Macron. €300b euros set aside to support the economy. It was so refreshing to see leadership and decisive action in France and I would be very surprised not to see the UK follow France lead later today or tomorrow.

it is a very bold statement for President Macron to say that no French business will go bust due to Covid 19.

I have to say that I'm not a fan of his at all, but I've been impressed by the way things are being dealt with.

Some businesses will go bust though, particularly those who were already in difficulty.

[Global Hibby]

Will be interesting to see what the goverment do. Giving a holiday break to utility costs, bank repayments, tax will make huge differences. I don’t think the goverment can pick and choose who they support based on the size of the football club or business. Am not sure how they will look at the companies who are in difficulty prior to Covid 19 and that’s a tiny % compared to the majority.

[Global Hibby]

I have to say that I'm not a fan of his at all, but I've been impressed by the way things are being dealt with.

Some businesses will go bust though, particularly those who were already in difficulty.

likewise P and like you impressed with the response. Vive La France 😂

[Keith_M]

likewise P and like you impressed with the response. Vive La France 😂


I know this is maybe a bit personal but, have you advised your employees to work from home or will you wait for further advice?

My employer is still deciding and will let us know sometime this week. We're not in an area with a particularly high level of infection, though.... at least not yet.

[Global Hibby]

I know this is maybe a bit personal but, have you advised your employees to work from home or will you wait for further advice?

My employer is still deciding and will let us know sometime this week. We're not in an area with a particularly high level of infection, though.... at least not yet.

No problem with personal Keith.......yes we have advised employees to work from home and we also provided advice and support around the impacts that might be ahead for them personally and the businesses in the group. One of our beliefs is that a full time employee works across more than one company in the group simultaneously and globally. Around 50% of our people do that and we are ramping this up to reduce risk for them and the business. I talk a lot about Future of Work and individuals working multi Portfolio as employees and balancing the local aspect of their work with global approach.

[where'stheslope]

The government has to worry about the top football clubs in England, think about it, how much tax is paid on £250,000 a week?
It will be a massive hit on the government coffers if anything was to happen to their share!
Sky will be the biggest loser as most will cancel their SKY sports package as there is no sports to watch.

[The 90+2]

The government has to worry about the top football clubs in England, think about it, how much tax is paid on £250,000 a week?
It will be a massive hit on the government coffers if anything was to happen to their share!
Sky will be the biggest loser as most will cancel their SKY sports package as there is no sports to watch.

Aren’t most people contracted to sky for a year?

[CMurdoch]

The government has to worry about the top football clubs in England, think about it, how much tax is paid on £250,000 a week?
It will be a massive hit on the government coffers if anything was to happen to their share!
Sky will be the biggest loser as most will cancel their SKY sports package as there is no sports to watch.

Sky will then stop paying the clubs/football associations

[mjhibby]

likewise P and like you impressed with the response. Vive La France 😂

What leadership looks like Boris who is being shown up as the ditherer and political lightweight he is.

[Keith_M]

No problem with personal Keith.......yes we have advised employees to work from home and we also provided advice and support around the impacts that might be ahead for them personally and the businesses in the group. .....


That's good to hear

:aok:

[Michael]

Aren’t most people contracted to sky for a year?

The sports can usually be cancelled with a months notice. Depends though.

[Hibs90]

Johnston needs to confirm government cancellation of football/sports for the clubs to claim insurance badly needed. He stopped short of it yesterday and I hope it wasn’t for that reason.

Of course it was, same reason he didn't officially ban pubs etc. Guys a clown and a coward.

[Kato]

What leadership looks like Boris who is being shown up as the ditherer and political lightweight he is.

If waving a Union Jack and spouting a three word slogan someone else made up for him worked on eradicating this virus he'd be perfect. As it is he's coming across as an unmanned womble.

Totally useless in situations the require pragmatism and empathy.

[Hibby Kay-Yay]

If waving a Union Jack and spouting a three word slogan someone else made up for him worked on eradicating this virus he'd be perfect. As it is he's coming across as an unmanned womble.

Totally useless in situations the require pragmatism and empathy.

The NHS must be relieved that they are getting £350 million per week now...oh wait.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Hi, GH.


I'd imagine that the only clubs the government would be interested in are the top clubs.

I'd love to see the smaller concerns protected, but I doubt it.

Sadly this is almost certainly accurate. In the past I've seen politicians make statements about football and invariably they seem to come from an ill educated view that all clubs can take financial hits like the ones in the English premier league can. For example making it far easier for a non EU player with international caps to get a work visa ... that was fine for clubs who can afford these players, but practically shut the door on clubs who could only afford to sign non international players from abroad.

It's the same with the probability that eventually they will ban betting advertising on shirts .... fine for big clubs who can attract big sponsors, but bad news for clubs like us.

The UK government loves the EPL coz its good for the economy, they will work to preserve it. I doubt they will even cast an eye on Scotland.

[Devonhibs]

The sports can usually be cancelled with a months notice. Depends though.

Cancelled mine yesterday, with Virgin who must have the worst call centre and staff imaginable.

Automatically cut off three times as the call was taking too long despite the first words out of my mouth on the 2nd and 3rd call was not to cut me off. First joker said it would actually raise my monthly bill by 14 quid to drop sky sports etc!!!

Good broadband though.

[greenginger]

Not in France anyway according to President Macron. €300b euros set aside to support the economy. It was so refreshing to see leadership and decisive action in France and I would be very surprised not to see the UK follow France lead later today or tomorrow.

it is a very bold statement for President Macron to say that no French business will go bust due to Covid 19.


Whats happened to all the E.U rules making it illegal for States to support private businesses. ?

[EI255]

Amazes me that football is put on such a high plateau. There are f k n lives at risk here!!

Sent from my LG-H840 using Tapatalk

[Peevemor]

Whats happened to all the E.U rules making it illegal for States to support private businesses. ?The direct financial aid is for the self employed (ie. one man bands) and small businesses with a turnover of less than 1m€. This applies to approx 600k businesses in France.

Indirect aid is also provided with loan repayments, utility bills, payment of rates, etc. being suspended.

[greenginger]

The direct financial aid is for the self employed (ie. one man bands) and small businesses with a turnover of less than 1m€. This applies to approx 600k businesses in France.

Indirect aid is also provided with loan repayments, utility bills, payment of rates, etc. being suspended.


So French football clubs could go bust.

[Peevemor]

So French football clubs could go bust.Like anywhere else, there will be some clubs who'll struggle more than others.

In saying that, the indirect aid is available for all businesses, but wages are obviously by far the biggest outlay.

However, given that French clubs are required to have their budgets approved prior to the season starting, and that PATG doesn't bring in that much (high proportion of ST holders and very few travelling fans), I think they should generally be better equipped to deal with the shut down than many UK clubs.

[CockneyRebel]

Sadly this is almost certainly accurate. In the past I've seen politicians make statements about football and invariably they seem to come from an ill educated view that all clubs can take financial hits like the ones in the English premier league can. For example making it far easier for a non EU player with international caps to get a work visa ... that was fine for clubs who can afford these players, but practically shut the door on clubs who could only afford to sign non international players from abroad.

It's the same with the probability that eventually they will ban betting advertising on shirts .... fine for big clubs who can attract big sponsors, but bad news for clubs like us.

The UK government loves the EPL coz its good for the economy, they will work to preserve it. I doubt they will even cast an eye on Scotland.


You do realise that there is a Scottish government?

[Iggy Pope]

Amazes me that football is put on such a high plateau. There are f k n lives at risk here!!

Sent from my LG-H840 using Tapatalk

There will be lots of other media platforms dealing with that I suppose, this one is usually all about football. Although it does turn into a sort of W.H.O. chat line at times.

[Lago]

What leadership looks like Boris who is being shown up as the ditherer and political lightweight he is.
Surely Scottish sport & Scottish football fall under the remit of Holyrood?

[NAE NOOKIE]

You do realise that there is a Scottish government?

Indeed I do mate, but they do not have the financial clout to bail out football clubs, and even if they did I'm not entirely convinced they would be any more sympathetic than the UK one.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Amazes me that football is put on such a high plateau. There are f k n lives at risk here!!

Sent from my LG-H840 using Tapatalk

Its not really as simple as football asking to be treated as a special case, every business will be looking for government assistance if things drag out to long term problems with cash flow and the ability to generate income. You could aim the 'lives are at risk here' at practically any business on earth with 'the cheek' to voice concerns about their ability to survive this situation ... should they all just pack it in then? Is a guy whose wage depends on football of any less importance than a guy whose living depends on a different industry? Thousands and thousands of full and part time jobs depend on football surviving.

Not just that, but in football's case it has a relatively good argument to make that it is of cultural significance over and above simple economics. If you take crowds in a UK wide sense the game has never been so popular with even the historically biggest clubs like Liverpool and Man Utd averaging crowds that exceed anything in their whole existence and more so than ever before clubs are looking to and succeeding in being valuable community resources, Hibs being one of them .... a club who very recently had it's best attendance figures in 40 years.

If you don't buy into that ask yourself why governments all over the world pour millions every year into stuff like opera and ballet which at the end of the day are just entertainments like football is, but with far far lower audience and participation levels .... the answer is because they are culturally significant and enrich the lives of the community as a whole, to say football isn't just as important is nothing but snobbery of the highest order.

A significant proportion of the population have looked upon football as a return to normality following periods of strife .... It's no coincidence that crowds peaked after both the first and second world wars .... twee though it may sound millions of people still find comfort and a sense of community from the beautiful game.

Is football more worth saving than many other businesses? arguably not. Is it worth saving? ... absolutely.

[Green_one]

Cancelled mine yesterday, with Virgin who must have the worst call centre and staff imaginable.

Good broadband though.

Me too, They should have suspended charges as they have nothing worthwhile to show but as usual have chosen to screw me, Glad to have finally got rid of it.

On the wider front, promises to save businesses are just bull. The costs of some will be unimaginable and simply saddle the population with enormous debt. There is really no easy answer but my view is help people before clubs, business etc. Some companies are effectively gone already and not collecting taxes etc is just papering over huge funding gaps.

[cocteautwin]

I wonder how this would apply to a badly run club like Hearts? Do they get to participate in any government hand outs like anyone else, using COVID-19 as an excuse for their clubs financial woes?

"Yeah, COVID-19 sent us over the edge, bail us out".

Hold on - what about that other c£30m you've just fired through in the past 5 years since your Administration event?

[The Baldmans Comb]

Surely Scottish sport & Scottish football fall under the remit of Holyrood?

They do but Scotland relies on a block grant from the British government which is carefully controlled so that Health, Education and Social services account for the vast majority of the money.

Scotland therefore doesn't have any money to bail out football clubs and to be honest there are far more deserving cases out there in the shape of the self employed and small business who employ tens of thousands of people.

Football clubs at the elite end in Scotland pay players obscene amounts of money and maybe not renewing £5,000 to £20,000 a week contracts is a much better way to survive any financial problems than asking for government handouts.

At the lower end of Scottish football the players are part time and numbers employed are very small but the income streams are more under threat.

Its here you would hope the SFA would make advance payments and redistribute some of their TV money as its in the small clubs where the real hardship will be found.

[MWHIBBIES]

Amazes me that football is put on such a high plateau. There are f k n lives at risk here!!

Sent from my LG-H840 using Tapatalk

You're on a football forum. Obviously it is important on a FOOTBALL FORUM.

[superfurryhibby]

They do but Scotland relies on a block grant from the British government which is carefully controlled so that Health, Education and Social services account for the vast majority of the money.

Scotland therefore doesn't have any money to bail out football clubs and to be honest there are far more deserving cases out there in the shape of the self employed and small business who employ tens of thousands of people.

Football clubs at the elite end in Scotland pay players obscene amounts of money and maybe not renewing £5,000 to £20,000 a week contracts is a much better way to survive any financial problems than asking for government handouts.

At the lower end of Scottish football the players are part time and numbers employed are very small but the income streams are more under threat.

Its here you would hope the SFA would make advance payments and redistribute some of their TV money as its in the small clubs where the real hardship will be found.

No reasonable minded person can surely disagree with this.

Football isn’t going to be a highest priority, no arguement with that here.

[Betty Boop]

I wonder how this would apply to a badly run club like Hearts? Do they get to participate in any government hand outs like anyone else, using COVID-19 as an excuse for their clubs financial woes?

"Yeah, COVID-19 sent us over the edge, bail us out".

Hold on - what about that other c£30m you've just fired through in the past 5 years since your Administration event?


Most of the Media especially Sportsound insist that Hearts is a well run club.

[HIBERNIAN-0762]

Most of the Media especially Sportsound insist that Hearts is a well run club.

And of course we all know that isn't the case but somehow they always come up smelling of roses

[Betty Boop]

And of course we all know that isn't the case but somehow they always come up smelling of roses

:agree:

[cocteautwin]

Most of the Media especially Sportsound insist that Hearts is a well run club.

Yeah, weird one when it quite clearly isn’t the case. HMFC are totally reliant on external donations to keep the club going and would be toast without the contributions.

[Eyrie]

Most of the Media especially Sportsound insist that Hearts is a well run club.

I wonder what they're saying after Budge's latest statement?

[NC1875]

Apart from Hearts of course....