Morning all.

Still working from home – today will make it exactly 3 weeks. The flowers on my desk (that I bought my mother for Mother’s Day) are on their last legs, and I have wrong out of croissants. But there is a lot more to be concerned about in this world.

The least important thing we should be concerned about is a return to football.

It is incredible that there are people discussing how to finish the season, playing games behind closed doors, etc, when people are dying.

By the end of this pandemic, we will all know someone that has died with Covid19. Football needs to take a back seat.

Even the discussion as to teams furloughing non-playing staff and players not yet taking a pay cut is getting boring,

Ultimately, players will have a choice. Either take a pay cut to help their club survive, or maintain their current view and risk their employer going into administration.

Despite what some think, football clubs do not make a lot of money. They are not big businesses.

Arsenal’s revenue in 2018/19 was £394.7m. BP’s revenue was £246b (the largest in the country).

Clubs have 3 main sources of income:

• Match day revenue
• Broadcasting
• Commercial

With no football, there is no match day revenue.

Most clubs will have to issue refunds for unused games this season if it is cancelled (or played behind closed doors). A bigger issue for them is they will not get the season ticket income that usually arrives in June. This will have huge ramifications for clubs cash flow.

With broadcasters like Sky likely to with hold television money if they have no product to put out, and commercial partners looking through contracts to see if they can be broken, football does face a tough time.

The main expenditure for clubs salaries.

Soon it will not be a discussion whether players should take pay cuts to pay the wages of furloughed staff, it will be discussions and taking pay cuts so that their clubs survive.

Of course, players could refuse their pay cuts, clubs would go into administration and they would then be free to negotiate contracts elsewhere. I can imagine some agents would be licking their lips at the commission earned off finding hundreds of players a new club, with 0 transfer fee involved.

But for now we have more important things to worry about. The survival of your football club is less important than the survival of your friends and family.

And that is why this Friday we will be holding our 2nd Big Arsenal Quiz for the NHS.

Last week we had nearly 3,000 people join us for the quiz. It provided many with brief relief and something to do.

So on Friday 10th April, we kick off again at 8pm.

All we ask is that you donate £2 (£2 is the minimum donation amount on JustGiving) and all proceeds will be donated to the NHS to help in this difficult time.

So, here are the steps to take to enter the quiz…

1. ‘Like’ our page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/shewore
2. Donate £2 via JustGiving – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/she-wore

Get your pen & paper ready, and at 8pm on Friday as we will go live on Facebook. It will be 45 minutes a half with a 15 minute break for half time.

Facebook Live – www.facebook.com/shewore

A lot of us spend Friday and Saturday’s in the boozers with our mates. so get those who you go football with together and compete amongst each other

I thank you all for showing interest in this quiz, and hope that as many of you as possible can take part so that we can raise lots of money for our NHS.

We look forward to entertaining you all on Friday!

Keenos

It has become one of the talking points during the Covid19 outbreak.

Premier League clubs furloughing non-playing staff whilst their players still received hundreds of thousands of pounds a month.

Contractually, clubs can not force players to take a pay cut. No business can.

Forcing an employee to take a pay cut would be a breach of contract, and would leave that employee, or football player, free to join another company. In the football world, this would cost millions in lost transfer fees.

To be furloughed, the employee needs to agree to it. If they fail to agree to it, furlough might turn into redundancy.

Whilst in the business world, a company will have no issue making an employee redundant is they refused to be furloughed, the football world is different. Will Tottenham really make Harry Kane redundant because he refused furlough?

This leaves clubs in the tough situation where it is up to the players to offer to take a pay cut, rather than it be enforced on them or agreeing to a furlough.

That is why the clubs should be defended (or at least not criticised). It is down to players to take that pay cut.

At Arsenal, the likes of Hector Bellerin and Mesut Ozil have both been loud voices against political situations across the world.

Ozil was quick to post a message on his Instagram criticising China’s treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

Hector Bellerin was happy getting involved in the UK election even though he was no entitled to vote.

Both men attempt to portray themselves as being politic intellects. Having an understanding of what is happening across the globe. Quick to share their opinion. It is therefore a surprise how quiet both have been when it comes to Covid19.

Bellerin earns £110,000 a week; Ozil £350,000 a week.

If both players decided not to be paid for a single week, that would likely cover Arsenal’s non-playing staff wage bill (bar Mikel Arteta) for an entire month. It is disappointing both have been so quiet.

This is not an abuse of Bellerin or Ozil, but of the wider Premier League football community. All players should hang their heads in shame.

They have been paid their millions due to gate receipts and broadcasting income from fans across the globe. Those fans are now facing their own hardships.

From China to Spain, England to Italy, millions would have lost their jobs. Be worried about keeping a rough over their heads. By the end of the pandemic, most people would know someone who has died with coronavirus. Yet football players seem oblivious.

They have locked themselves up in their fortress-like mansions, cuting themselves off to the rest of the world. It is almost like it is a case of “I can not see it so it is not happening”.

Players continue with their self-promotion on Instagram, videoing themselves kicking bog roll, tea bags or doing silly dances, but have many have actually sacrificed something to help combat the virus?

Some back of the fag pack figures:

Premier League players earn, on average, £3,000,000 a year. There are ~500 players.

This means means they earn a collective £1.5bn per annum.

If every player sacrificed a single days salary – not even the 20% that employees are having to sacrifice when furloughed – it would generate over £4million. That would be more than enough to cover the non-playing staff at every Premier League club.

A second day without pay would be enough to cover costs for non-playing staff at every club from the Championship to League 2. A third day without pay would be enough to cover the playing wage bill of every League 1 and League 2 club.

Premier League footballers could do so much to help their fellow professionals at the lower end of the football pyramid. So much to help their colleagues who work for the same club as them.

But they sit quiet. On their huge wages. Knowing that their employer won’t furlough them, won’t make them redundant, can’t force a wage cut on them.

It is ignorance and greed. It will end up driving a bigger wedge between those players and the fans that pay their wages.

If footballers do not step up and take pay cuts like they have done in Italy and Spain, I never want to hear them ever share their opinion on politics, or any other situation in the world.

They would have shown that their words are hollow, and when action is needed they lock their door and do nothing.

Remember tonight at 8pm we are hosting The BIG Arsenal quiz to raise money for the NHS. Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/she-wore

Keenos