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.

Questions: 

NICKNAMES
1) Chippy –
2) Spider –
3) whoops a daisy –
4) Tin tin –
5) Stroller –
6) Romford Pele –
7) Huggy bear –
8) Titi –
9) Paddy –
10) Nutty –

GOALS
1) Who scored more goals: Theo or Giroud?
2) Who scored more goals: Van Persie or Bergkamp?
3) Who scored more goals:  Alan smith or Frank Stapleton?
4) Who scored more hat tricks: Henry or Wrighty?
5) Who scored more goals:  Reg Lewis or Joe Hulme?
6) Who scored more goals:  Pires or Freddie?
7) Who reached their 100^th goal quickest: Bastin or Henry?
8) Who scored the most goals in one game?
9) Whore scored more goals: Liam Brady or Fabregas ?
10) What season did we score more league goals: 89 or 98?

I also played for
1) Middlesbrough, Hull City
2) Raith Rovers, Preston North End
3) Peterborough United, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City
4) Brentford, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Walsall
5) Leciester City, Stockport County, Mjolner
6) Watford, Tottenham
7) Cardiff, Nottingham Forest, Juventus
8) Metz, Marseille, Villarreal, Aston Villa, FC Goa
9) Crewe Alexander, Aston Villa, Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria, Nottingham Fores t
10) Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace, California Surf

Records
1) Which player has made the most appearances for Arsenal?
2) Arsenal’s biggest win was 12-0. Who were the opponents?
3) Against who did Arsenal suffer their biggest defeat again?
4) Arsenal hold the record for most consecutive seasons in the top flight, how many seasons has it been?
5) We all know Arsenal hold the record for most game unbeaten, but we also hold the record for most consecutive games scoring. How many games in a row did we score in?
6) In 1935, Arsenal recorded their biggest attendance at Highbury, who were the opponents?
7) At 16 years and 212 days, who was Arsenal’s youngest goal scorer?
8) Which player has the most caps for England whilst being an Arsenal player?
9) At 6 seconds, which Arsenal player holds the record for fastest goal by a substitute?
10) Who is Arsenal’s fifth most expensive player?

History
1) Arsenal were founded in 1886, but what was their original name?
2) Who was Arsenal’s first full time manager?
3) In what season were Arsenal last relegated?
4) Herbert Chapman led Arsenal to their 1st league title, how many league titles did he manage the club to?
5) Bertie Mee famously went from club physiotherapist to managing Arsenal to the double in 1970/71, but which other title winning manager was also previously the club physiotherapist?
6) Who was George Graham managing before joining Arsenal?
7) What year did Dennis Bergkamp sign for Arsenal?
8) Since the 1930s, Arsenal have only failed to win a trophy in one decade. What is that decade?
9) Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry all have statues outside the Emirates. But who else also has a statue?
10) How many major honours have Arsenal won (note: We do not consider the community Shield a major honour)?

Finals
1) What year did Arsenal first win the FA Cup?
2) How many FA Cup finals have Arsenal played in?
3) Who did Arsenal beat to win the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final?
4) Who scored the winning goal in the 1970/71 FA Cup final?
5) Who captained Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup final?
6) Who did Tony Adams drop during the post-match celebrations of the 1993 Football League Cup Final victory?
7) Who scored the only goal in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Parma in the 1993/94 European Cup Winners Cup Final?
8) Who was the first Arsenal player to play in a World Cup Final?
9) In 2002, Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg scored as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0, but who uttered the words “Ah, it’s alright, it’s only Ray Parlour…”
10) How many FA Cups did Arsene Wenger win?

Rivals
1) What years have we won the title at WHL ?
2) What years have we won it at Stamford bridge ?
3) We have won 13 titles, how many have Tottenham ?
4) How many titles did Chelsea win pre-Roman ?
5) Who scored an FA CUP winning pen Vs Man U with his last kick for the club?
6) Name the 2 subs used at Anfield 89?
7) How much did we pay for Sol Cambpell?
8) Wenger won 10 major trophies in 22 seasons, how many did Tottenham win in that time?
9) Who got the longest ban after the Battle of old Trafford ?
10) How long has it been since Liverpool won the title?

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Answers

Questions: 

NICKNAMES
1) Chippy – Liam Brady
2) Spider – David O’Leary
3) whoops a daisy – Martin Hayes
4) Tin tin – Perry Groves
5) Stroller – George Graham
6) Romford Pele – Ray Parlour
7) Huggy bear – Chris Whyte
8) Titi – Thierry Henry
9) Paddy – Patrick Vieira
10) Nutty – Nigel Winterburn

GOALS
1) Who scored more goals: Theo or Giroud? Theo: 107; Giroud 105
2) Who scored more goals: Van Persie or Bergkamp? RVP 132; Bergkamp 120
3) Who scored more goals:  Alan smith or Frank Stapleton? Smith 115; Stapleton 108
4) Who scored more hat tricks: Henry or Wrighty? Henry 9; Wrighty 11
5) Who scored more goals:  Reg Lewis or Joe Hulme? Lewis 118; Hulme 125
6) Who scored more goals:  Pires or Freddie? Pires 62; Ljungberg 46
7) Who reached their 100^th goal quickest: Bastin or Henry? Bastin 174; Henry 181
8) Who scored the most goals in one game? Ted Drake – 7 – Aston Villa
9) Whore scored more goals: Liam Brady or Fabregas ? Brady 43; Cesc 35
10) What season did we score more league goals: 89 or 98? 89 – 73; 98 – 68

I also played for
1) Middlesbrough, Hull City Ray Parlour
2) Raith Rovers, Preston North End Alex James
3) Peterborough United, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City David Seaman
4) Brentford, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Walsall Paul Merson
5) Leciester City, Stockport County, Mjolner George Armstrong
6) Watford, Tottenham Pat Jennings
7) Cardiff, Nottingham Forest, Juventus Aaron Ramsey
8) Metz, Marseille, Villarreal, Aston Villa, FC Goa Robert Pires
9) Crewe Alexander, Aston Villa, Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria, Nottingham Forest David Platt
10) Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace, California Surf George Graham

Records
1) Which player has made the most appearances for Arsenal? David O’Leary
2) Arsenal’s biggest win was 12-0. Who were the opponents? Loughborough
3) Against who did Arsenal suffer their biggest defeat again? Loughborough
4) Arsenal hold the record for most consecutive seasons in the top flight, how many seasons has it been? 94
5) We all know Arsenal hold the record for most game unbeaten, but we also hold the record for most consecutive games scoring. How many games in a row did we score in? 55
6) In 1935, Arsenal recorded their biggest attendance at Highbury, who were the opponents? Sunderland
7) At 16 years and 212 days, who was Arsenal’s youngest goal scorer? Cesc Fabregas
8) Which player has the most caps for England whilst being an Arsenal player? Kenny Sansom
9) At 6 seconds, which Arsenal player holds the record for fastest goal by a substitute? Nicklas Bendtner
10) Who is Arsenal’s fifth most expensive player? Shkodran Mustafi

History
1) Arsenal were founded in 1886, but what was their original name? Dial Square
2) Who was Arsenal’s first full time manager? Thomas Mitchell
3) In what season were Arsenal last relegated? 1912/13
4) Herbert Chapman led Arsenal to their 1st league title, how many league titles did he manage the club to? 2
5) Bertie Mee famously went from club physiotherapist to managing Arsenal to the double in 1970/71, but which other title winning manager was also previously the club physiotherapist? Tom Whittaker
6) Who was George Graham managing before joining Arsenal? Millwall
7) What year did Dennis Bergkamp sign for Arsenal? 1995
8) Since the 1930s, Arsenal have only failed to win a trophy in one decade. What is that decade? 60s
9) Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry all have statues outside the Emirates. But who else also has a statue? Ken Friar
10) How many major honours have Arsenal won (note: We do not consider the community Shield a major honour): 30

Finals
1) What year did Arsenal first win the FA Cup? 1930
2) How many FA Cup finals have Arsenal played in? 20
3) Who did Arsenal beat to win the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final? Anderlecht
4) Who scored the winning goal in the 1970/71 FA Cup final? Charlie George
5) Who captained Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup final? Pat Rice
6) Who did Tony Adams drop during the post-match celebrations of the 1993 Football League Cup Final victory? Steve Morrow
7) Who scored the only goal in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Parma in the 1993/94 European Cup Winners Cup Final? Alan Smith
8) Who was the first Arsenal player to play in a World Cup Final? Emmanuel Petit (Patrick Vieira came off the bench)
9) In 2002, Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg scored as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0, but who uttered the words “Ah, it’s alright, it’s only Ray Parlour…”? Tim Lovejoy
10) How many FA Cups did Arsene Wenger win? 7

Rivals
1) What years have we won the title at WHL? 71, 2004
2) What years have we won it at Stamford Bridge? 1934 & 1935
3) We have won 13 titles, how many have Tottenham ? 2
4) How many titles did Chelsea win pre-Roman ? 1
5) Who scored an FA CUP winning pen Vs Man U with his last kick for the club? Patrick Vieira
6) Name the 2 subs used at Anfield 89? Martin Hayes & Perry Groves
7) How much did we pay for Sol Cambpell? Nothing
8) Wenger won 10 major trophies in 22 seasons, how many did Tottenham win in that time? 2
9) Who got the longest ban after the Battle of old Trafford? Lauren (4 games)
10) How long has it been since Liverpool won the title? 30 years and counting…

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