Football clubs have become an easy target for criticism during the COVID-19 crisis.

Whilst many column inches have been written about clubs furloughing non-playing staff and players turning down pay cuts, not much has been written about the good clubs are doing within their community.

We sat down with Arsenal’s Supporters Liaison Officer Mark Brindle to discuss what the club are doing for Islington and beyond during the pandemic.

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Q) Hi Mark, thank you for taking the time to take part in this, hope the families well. How has your daily working life changed?

No problem, the family is all well thankfully and hope that all The Gooners out there are staying well and safe as well.

Highbury House is shut which means I am currently working from home.

Unfortunately the working from home regime has meant that personally I have not been able to get as ‘hands on’ with our community programme being run out of the hub, but I have been trying to keep in touch personally with as many supporters as possible both individually and through various blogs and podcasts etc.

The club are in regular contact with us all; including daily calls on Microsoft Teams which have been very re-assuring for all.

One thing I am not particularly missing is the daily commute that takes nearly 2 hrs each way on a good day, although I am missing my colleagues at Highbury House and being in and around the stadium on a daily basis.

Q) With all of Highbury House closed down how have you found the communications between staff at the club?

Really good. We have daily calls where all our team get together and there are regular newsletters from the club 3 or 4 times a week plus we have a Monday conference with Vinai, Raul and Mikel.

This is really great as no questions are off the agenda and the executive team have been very clear and concise with there answers. Obviously we all read the same rumours that everyone does on social media and what I would say is that fans should take most if not all of them with a pinch of salt.

Q) How have you found your role of Supporters Liaison Officer (SLO) changing over the last month?

In a ‘normal’ season a lot of the work I do revolves around match days and planning for them be it home or away.

The suspension of the season has reduced the day to day tasks but it has enabled me to get on with some longer term projects revolving around not only match day but also looking to further develop our international and domestic supporters clubs and working with Box office on a few plans with regard to ticketing.

Alongside the longer term plans I now have more time to connect with supporters both individually and collectively.

Q) You are a regular face on the away day coaches. These are often used by senior fans who you see every other week. How are you staying in touch with them?

Basically calling them and trying to help with any issues. We have a great bunch of fans who travel to every away game on the coaches,

I don’t think they will mind me saying that many of them are of a senior nature (including myself) but they are there every single game and therefore I think there is a large chance that they will be missing their trips a great deal and I hope by staying in contact the club are helping if only in a small way.

Q) How have the club redeployed staff to help with The Arsenal Foundation and Arsenal in the Community?

The Community Team have been magnificent in this crisis and the Foundation have been massively supporting their efforts.

We have all been tasked with helping as much as we can and my main focus has been to use the contact base within supporters organisations to help solve any individual problems. Yesterday I was dealing with a request for a cab driver to help one of our regulars on the away coaches get to her workplace where she helps produce hand-sanitiser.

The club will be rolling out more initiatives in the coming weeks and the plan is for other departments to get further involved to help.

Q) Football clubs have had a lot of bad press during the COVID-19 crisis. A lot of what clubs are doing to help their local communities has not been reported. What have Arsenal been doing for Islington residents?

I do think that football clubs are something of an easy target. Discussing the matter with my opposite numbers at various clubs it is clear that all clubs are making a huge effort to help their local communities and further afield as well.

At the Arsenal we have lots of initiatives going on which include:

• 100k for local charities
• 50k to Islington Givings Crisis Fund
• Club Cars to help frontline NHS staff
• Staff volunteers to drive NHS staff
• Local School and pupil referral unit support
• Digital resources for primary schools
• BTEC tutors giving classes remotely
• Regular contact for vulnerable youngsters
• Remote coaching for life in Jordan and Indonesia

I think most people would have read about the more headline grabbing delivery of meals to the community over the last few days as well and I know that yesterday some of the community guys were running bottles of water up to the Whittington Hospital for the NHS workers up there, a small gesture in the big scheme of things but one that was welcomed.

Q) Theres always been a strong link with Whittington Hospital and Arsenal. What is the club doing to help the NHS?

I’m getting in a habit of answering one question in advance here!

Q) You have been the driving force in the very successful Food bank days at home games, how are they doing? And is the club assisting there too right now?

Firstly let me say that it is very much a team effort with regard to Foodbanks but it is an initiative I really love.

Sadly we were due to have another drive for the Easter holiday at a game so that had to be cancelled. However once we are back we will be working with Islington Foodbank once again and hopefully making it even bigger and better.

You guys have been great in promoting and supporting the Foodbank idea and my impression is that it was gaining momentum with more supporters hearing about it, etc and if we keep spreading the word it can only get stronger.

If we can get just half of the crowd to bring one item to the designated match then we would have 30,000 items to distribute, it’s a target but not an impossible one I believe.

Q) It sounds like Arsenal and Islington Council are working well together to support the community. Is it frustrating that this good work takes second place to the negative headlines in the media?

It can be, but hopefully if we keep getting the word out through people like yourselves then we can counteract what the mis-informed have to say.

Maybe I am a bit naïve but I truly think that Gooners around the world know that when it comes down to it our club will always support its local community in every way it can.

The club is a lot bigger these days but the core principles set down way back in the mists of time in the Woolwich days still hold true. I think at this time the old motto of ‘victory through harmony’ is even more appropriate than ever, if we work together (and we will) through this worrying time then we can come back even stronger in the months and years to come.

Q) Is there anything else positive that the club is doing that you can share with us?

There will be more to come in the next few weeks.

Please stay safe and well and I look forward to the day when we are all back at the Emirates and cheering the lads on once again. Come to think of it maybe we should have a big party to celebrate when the time comes!

She Wore

During the coronavirus outbreak, football clubs have come in for a lot of criticism.

The likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle were very quick to furlough non-playing staff. The first two have since back tracked.

What did not sit well for most people is the salaries of non-playing staff makes up a very small percentage of the sides salaries – less than 5%.

Tottenham announced they had furloughed all 550 non-playing staff.

At the UK’s annual salary of £24,000 a year, this would have saved the club around £761,000 based on a 3 week furlough. During the same period, Harry Kane and Dele Alli would have earned around £900,000 between them.

What Tottenham, Liverpool and the likes did was force low paid staff to take a hit, whilst leaving high paid players on their wages.

In 2017/18 (their latest accounts), Tottenham had a total wage bill of £148million. Around £135million would have been players portion. 2 days money (~£739k) would have nearly covered the entire saving the club would make on furloughing all non-playing staff.

Clubs came in for a hammering for their decision to furlough staff, but players were perhaps more culpable.

You can not force staff to take furlough. Employees have to agree to it.

For me and you, refusing to be furloughed would be a fast track to redundancy. No even getting your 80%. But a club will not make a football player redundant – logistically and contractually.

Arsenal have announced that all non-playing and casual staff will continue to be paid through until the end of May. However this is offset by players turning down a request for them to take a wage cut.

Whilst the media have been quick to criticise clubs, they have not been as quick to praise clubs for their good work. And that is where the two sides of football clash.

Clubs have a huge role to play within their local community.

Most clubs, including Arsenal, have long ran community programmes. Whether it is summer schools (I always went to Leyton Orient), providing pitches for local schools, books and more. They still contribute heavily.

Back in March, the club announced that it would be donating £100,000 to local charities and organisations that are supporting those in need during the COVID-19 crisis via The Arsenal Foundation.

A further £50,000 already donated to local community initiatives by The Arsenal Foundation, in partnership with Islington Giving, will also be re-directed to Islington Giving’s Crisis Fund.

The club also made all Arsenal in the Community vehicles available to transport NHS mental health workers, to be driven on a voluntary basis by Arsenal in the Community Staff.

Arsenal also ensured its current contributions in local schools continued, alongside the work done in Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan and in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Arsenal Foundation joined forces with His Church and Islington Borough Council to help deliver 15 tonnes of emergency supplies throughout the borough.

The donation provided more than 30,000 free meals, as well as essential items such as sanitary and personal hygiene products to those most vulnerable in the local community.

Arsenal have also been working alongside the Co-op, delivering drinks and collections to The Whittington Hospital – the closest hospital to the ground.

The community side of Arsenal Football Club is standing up and doing their part during the pandemic.

Sadly these good deeds do not make the headlines.

The media would rather concentrate on players refusing to agree to a pay cut. And this is where the two sides of the club clash.

Whilst the non-playing side, the community side are doing their bit through The Arsenal Foundation and Arsenal in the Community, the playing side is highlighting the greed that is within football.

The sad thing is it is the greed of football players that the media write about, and not the good work done by ordinary folk who work for the club.

The majority of Arsenal staff have stood up and been counted during the COVID-19 crisis. It is just sad that the players have locked themselves away in their million pound mansions and not helping as much as they could.

What The Arsenal Foundation and Arsenal in the Community have done has made me proud to be an Arsenal fan.

PS: We have also done our bit, hosting quizzes every Friday night to take peoples mind off the crisis whilst raising money for the NHS. Join us against this Friday at 8pm on the She Wore Facebook page for the 3^rd instalment.