The Scudamore Deal Splits Clubs And Supporters
Nov 15th, 2018 by 'holic
The reaction to the Premier League clubs agreeing to make payments totalling £5 million to departing chairman, Richard Scudamore, is a hardly surprising level of criticism on social media. The Football Supporters Federation published the following post on Facebook, and immediately drew messages of support from other supporters groups including the AST.
“Premier League clubs have always told fan groups that budgets are planned in advance and there’s not a surplus of cash lying around from their extremely lucrative TV deal. In the meantime loyal football supporters continue to be inconvenienced by fixture changes to fit TV schedules, often losing out on travel costs or struggling to get to and from games in the first place.
Now it appears clubs can stick their hands down the back of the sofa and find £250,000 at a moment’s notice. Fans strongly oppose the ‘golden handshake’ and we urge clubs not to make a decision which is hugely unpopular with supporters.”
The justification issued by the Premier League was also issued. Scudamore’s departure package …
“was made by the Audit and Remuneration Committee and the Non-Executive Directors, supported and endorsed by the clubs. It was vital that a comprehensive set of non-compete clauses were extended, to ensure the best possible protection for the future of the Premier League. It was agreed that it is crucial for the League’s ongoing success that Richard’s unique knowledge and experience remain available in an advisory capacity. The payments are in recognition of the outstanding work Richard has carried out over the last 19 years.”
That there is a rift between the supporters and clubs there is no doubt. The clubs may well wish to show appreciation to an executive who consistently delivered improved television revenues. Yet they show no understanding of what that has cost supporters with matches being switched, sometimes at short notice, with no regard to what that would mean for the travelling supporters.
A number of comments on Twitter have suggested that money might have been better spent on the grass roots of the game which is in need of financial support. Others called for the cash to be spent specifically on local schools and youth football. In fairness to The Arsenal they do perform some superb work in this area via The Arsenal Foundation.
It’s too late, I would imagine, for the Premier League to withdraw their very public but that won’t stop a number of supporters and fan groups from equally taking their concerns into the public arena. It looks like an own goal by the League and the clubs who voted to contribute.
Could there be a clearer indication that the supporters voices are not heard by those for whom they are just customers of the business of football, disposable and replaceable.
78 Responses to “The Scudamore Deal Splits Clubs And Supporters”
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ttg, so glad to hear she’s home. that’s got to be a huge load off. now you need to get a huge load on! here’s to her, you, and both of your health!
as for the payment, it smacks of a golden parachute that wasn’t built into his contract. £250 million per club, how’s someone like cardiff or bournemouth able to throw that down at the drop of a hat? watch for a more-than-usual rise in ticket prices?
Good news ttg, my best to you both.
Hello scruz. Interesting point that somebody else made today. Why have only the existing 20 clubs been charged. How about those who are on the parachute payments his work helped to fund?
Good news TTG.
As far as Scudamore goes, when you see what the Premier League is, compared to what it was when he arrived, £5m is loose change.
£250k is peanuts to all the clubs in the Premier Leaue, even the smallest ones.
If you look at it purely in terms of business growth, he should probably get a lot more than £5m
Doesn’t make it right though 🙂
Of course clubs should not contribute anything. 19 years was enough time to have created a kitty for severance payments, a small % each year from TV revenue. What else has he cocked up? Fans are being pushed too far by clubs owners, and the League, so season ticket holding fans cannot make forward plans for holidays etc. Gooners fans are being forced to sell their tiny share holding. Football Against Apartheid is asking fans at every club to support their call for Gov legislation, requiring 10% of all club ownership share transacrtions be awared free of charge to democratically controlled fans organisations, until fans own at least 51% of their club. That way we will have the same rights as the major share holders, in fact we’d have the controlling share.
TTG: Glad to hear that Mrs TTG is home. Best wishes for her speedy recovery.
As for the Scudamore payment, Cynic hits the nail on the head.
A totally ridiculous pay-off for an already well paid administrator. Buy him a nice yellow metal watch and a season ticket for Anfield. It’s the thought that counts.
Good news that Mrs TTG is home, TTG. I hope that a steady recovery is in progress. Here’s to a full recovery. ?
I think Mr. Scudamore who I sat next to on the plane coming back from Paris after the Champions League Final ( and seemed a very decent man) should not be paid what is an obscene amount of money especially as he chose to leave and I am sure he has made ample pension provision from his £900 k a year salary.
Football has moved rapidly away from its roots socially and financially and to lob this money at a millionaire in this fashion is unnecessary and insensitive .
I think Bruce Buck must have thought it was another pay off to a departing Chelsea manager. They have paid over £80 million in pay offs since Abramovich took over at the Bus Stop.
I really can’t see our fans watching this utterly astonishing shite so quietly. If they try it on at our place, that’s the final straw for me.
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch_popup%3Fv%3DjAF2hZxdFRE%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&data=02%7C01%7C%7C107cdd3778b54092221908d6339a15c4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636753134212308862&sdata=eLOUS7q6o3Ys0EFgQRBepWYMR8VR139%2BVrX%2BUHOM%2FvI%3D&reserved=0
I’m with you Bath. It’s excruciating !
Late to the party but sincerely meant nonetheless. Good news about Mrs TTG. Fingers crossed for a complete recovery.
In other news… COYG
Excruciating is the VAR follies. Fans in the stadium not allowed to see the slow motion replays the referees use to change major decisions, leaving fans wondering “Why did I come all this way when I could have found out what happened by watching on TV?”
Not meaning to defend the Emirates follies at Benfica, either. Best to remove them from the Arsenal shirt and stadium before they try anything like that with us. Name the stadium after Piebury Corner.
And I will accept the appointment as head of marketing. 😉
I recently went to Fiorentina with Cagliari in Florence. Midway through the second half the ref turned down a Fiorentina penalty appeal and then suddenly ran over to the halfway line , emerging from the tunnel about a minute later to award tge Pen. While this went on a green screen said VAR. And that was it.
Bt8 makes a great point that when the TV experience becomes demonstrably superior to watching live the game will suffer. Often someone close to where I sit will get a text saying that an incident was a definite penalty or sending off and we are none the wiser about the details and never see a replay. It detracts from tge Football experience but when I first went to Arsenal they never even identified the goalscorers or put the scores up anywhere ! Soon we will watch the game with tablets on our knees !
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life , eh ?
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(Charlie Liam and Sammy’s arse)
.
Is there any reason not to show to the crowd on the big screen what the referee is looking at during a VAR review? No need to play the audio of the officials’ deliberations, which probably should be kept confidential.
BS@16. Not a word to disagree with there. 😉
Ned,
I may be wrong but I thought
the decision was made pre VAR
a few years back that contentious
replays such as penalties and
sending offs wouldn’t be shown
on big screens. The reason was
that over excited fans might attack
each other in a surfeit of rage.
I thought it was stupid at the time
but I imagined the actual reason
was that the authorities didn’t want
people to see that the appointed
officials had fucked it right up.
Ned @17
You make too much sense.
Sky are reporting that Arsenal have covered the most ground in the Premier League this season and are 4th in number of sprints undertaken. This would compare dramatically with the last half of last season when our work rate was right down. This is a real example of ‘ the Emery effect’.
Barkley, Dier and Delph- the trio expected to dominate midfield. Surely we’ve not fallen this far?
It looks like a bad injury for
Jordan Nobbs at the end of a
4-0 win at Everton. A real shame
for her and for the team too.
I’d completely forgotten about the
England game until I read TTG’s
post 🙂
In fairness to that midfield three Delph played well but we looked very likely to blow it . Kane showed a great goal instinct but Sterling is such a Nancy boy. But props to Southgate We got over the line.
Emery effect? Nancy boy?
I can see it is time for me to study up on my vocabulary a bit more stringently. 😉
Must use an Emery board then. Sterling, not Unai I mean.
And that is not intended in a negative way toward anybody in case anybody was wondering. Dumb word play is all it was.
Better shut my mouth before I put my other foot in it. Unless that was an ankle.
Thank goodness. The ankle is still there. Quiet Sunday afternoon here.
But I did read (in the book by Bill Bryson, In a Sunburnt Country)that Noosa is on the east coast of Australia, something I never knew. Made me think about Noosa Gooner who could (?) be a Noosaite, if there is such a word. Also about Sydney Red who we haven’t heard from in a while. Hope all is well down under.
A Noosanian?
But more likely a Noosie 🙂
I’ve been to Noosa, great beaches
and a cracking place for a holiday.
All the best people go there 🙂
Good win for England but an even
better one for Switzerland – 5-2
against Belgium is not to be sniffed at.
And from 2-0 down
OM. Noosa does look beautiful from the pictures. But the book I’m reading describes very large and hungry crocs that don’t always behave kindly toward bathers. Best people in what sense, do you mean? Surely not best edible flesh. 😉
I’ve been to Noosa which if I recall is on the Sunshine Coast ( aptly named) in the south of Queensland. We had a barbecue in a park by the coast. Far too hot for me and it was only October! But a very nice place .
My description of Sterling as a Nancy boy won’t be politically correct but he bottled out of a challenge with the goalie that I thought reflected very badly on him. He also runs in a mincing way like Larry Grayson running for a bus. But without Larry’s bristling aggression. Sancho is three times the player he is already at this level.
i’ve never been on holiday
not in a
“i’m always on my game” sense
i haven’t
.
we went to Donegal when i was wee
two days
possibly that’s why i chose to live there
as a big lump
but
no
never been away for a fortnight
anywhere
ever
.
.
.
not just the two days
arsehole s !
it happened every year
afore ye dig up Esther
.
.
“Hello , big teef”
“Pwopah top geezah earrr bean de nide
HOLLY
FACKIN
DAZE ”
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“SOOOO TIT NAAAAHHHHH”
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sausages my arse
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cheap typed out smirk from cynic ?
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no ?
?
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cyril
would be displeased
34 m’lud
ye were digging yer way out there weren’t ye
d’ye like digging ?
asking for a friend
he loves horticulture
his garden is uphill
so occasionally he needs assistance
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yupforit ?
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“mine’s funnier than yours”
.
not
.
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STOP ALL THIS CASUAL HOMOPHOBIA
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.
.
FABULOUS homophobia would clearly
undermine your target audience
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJGrIyt-X8
that’s if
it wasn’t for the reason
they’re all going to hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olwQXGG35oE.
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#HELLO Theresa
#HELLO ma honey
#HELLO ma brexit gal
.
.
the resolutely normal
shall welcome the abnormal
to change their ways
every tuesday about half 3
cos it’s the wife’s weightlifting course
none
REPEAT
none
of this refers to anyone in public life here
i know
.
.
just covering me arse here
.
.
aaaahhhhhh aaaahhhhhh
.
.
ooooooohhh ooooooohhh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-seVSh1v3ds
bt8,
Nary a croc to be seen mate. The meanest
looking things I saw were the kookaburras
on the balcony in the morning.
Apart from our Aussie babysitter who told me
it was good I lived in Japan because she didn’t
like Chinese people – what? all of them? I innocently
asked her ?
Lurky
@ bt8, om, ttg et al above,
Thanks for thinking of me – tee hee,
Noosa is indeed on the Sunshine Coast of Oz and is a beautiful place to live – something I give thanks for every day. We’re not big on nicknames but Noosans probably fits the bill. We’re surrounded by beaches and National Parks and are basically a small town supported by tourism.
Too far South for Crocs bt8 but the usual bunch of other dangerous things referenced by Bill Bryson in his book Down Under.
Any Goonerholics travelling this way always welcome for a couple of wet ones – beers that is.
UTA.
Oh – and it’s a long way from Kilburn.
@53. Visited Noosa back in 2010 staying at the Sun Motel. Lovely part of the world. Would walk into the main town ( touristy bit ) and get the river ferry back. Also nice walk through the National Park to Sunshine beach – very hard to find Koala’s but got a heads up from a local ranger.
Nostalgic to shop in a Woolworths, even though it’s a big supermarket chain in Oz.
TTG trust the missus is in full recovery mode – best keep her away from watching us play whilst our defence is still bad for the heart ?.
Uply
Getting harder to find koalas anywhere around here these days – a combination of gradual development removing their habitat and spreading disease – mostly chlamydia – means it is easier to see them in sanctuaries rather than the wild. A real shame but still a few around.
Plenty of kangaroos though – I came face to face with one in a suburban street recently. Not sure how he got there, probably looking for food. Looked a bit frail and worried – probably a Spuds supporter. Told him to hop it.
I’ll get my coat.
UTA.
So, we’ve become customers now???? Who’d have thought it. ?
It’s all a big boys club with lots of grubby little fingers in grubby little pies. And I know a pie when I see one.
The Aaron Ramsey situation is another situation that mystifies me. Are we genuinely going to let a player with a value between £40 and £50 million pounds in today’s ridiculous markets, walk away for nothing??? If we consider that to be such a paltry sum that we can just write it off then I take it next year’s season ticket renewals will be all free?
Motion tabled by Steve T @57, seconded.
Free ST renewals gratefully accepted.
milkshakes on me ya titty twisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgwF4q6P3A
!DANCE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZd8D5Cng3s
Back at you Silly Second,
https://youtu.be/5jrnfKe7rqU
you dog
you
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rckNocGIxzg
D a a ance you say.
cba will love this one.
DAncE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA7JpBd-MGk
adrenaline
+
6
Noosa @53. Sorry to hear that there are no crocs in Noosa, it would have added an element of excitement to my day, but on the same score it makes me calmer and more relieved for you. 😉
Seeing as you used the title “Down Under” I found this which confirms that book is the same as “In a Sunburned Country” which is the title used in the New York edition (for some reason):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(book)
In any case it is a very good read and he does indeed describe a very wide variety of dangerous critters so keep your eyes on the path in front of you. 🙂
danCe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eXZP_Ixq9A
dance the papastathopoulos
move your hippie hips
Sham 69?
not now
sunday distant sunday
OWL
hippie hips is not the same as hippy hips, presumably.
could be though.
Apologies all, competition post primed awaiting one Tweet..
the makers
the shakers
the imitators
oi oi oi
no
wait
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC7A4aAYKko
I’m on tweeterhooks.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpLfvBcxjyo
Competition time. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>