It is no hyperbole to suggest that the future of non-league footballers, and with it the game itself, is at stake.
A week ago, the Professional Football Association wrote to non-league players to inform them of proposed changes to the management of new contracts. The two lowlights were as follows: 1) players would only receive full wages for six weeks (12 in the Vanarama National League) when injured, then reverting to Statutory Sick Pay; 2) clubs could terminate the contract of players (with three months’ notice) if a medical professional judged that they were likely to be injured for four months or more.
The fallout was swift and damning. Oldham Athletic defender Peter Clarke claimed that players may go on strike. Barnet manager Dean Brennan told BBC Radio London that government intervention was needed. The 24 captains of National League teams all signed an open letter expressing their deep reservations, as did numerous non-league players on social media.
On Monday, a Football Association spokesperson said that the reaction would provoke consultation “to understand and, where possible, address the concerns.”
There are two instant reactions here, and both have been prevalent. First come the “Ha, welcome to the real world – I only get sick pay in my job” crowd, who perhaps think that being a footballer in the National League is a life of glamour and glitz; it isn’t. In National League North, the average salary is between £300 and £400 a week (less than the average national wage), the career is relatively short and you risk your physical wellbeing (and thus your ability to continue doing the job) every time you step onto the training pitch or field on a matchday.
At the other end are those who clearly feel that National League clubs, in perceived cahoots with governing bodies, are actively exploring ways to exploit players. That is the more popular response, including from the players themselves, and you can see their point. Their insurance policy against serious injury is being removed. Worse than that, any medium-term injury (a severe calf tear, say) would leave them reliant upon the current SSP total which rises from April 6 from £99.35 a week to £109.40 a week. With kids to feed and bills to pay, decisions would need to be made about whether it is worth it at all.
But we cannot ignore the contextual reality: football clubs in the National League, National League North and South routinely lose money and are suffering from a lack of cash that has its roots in a lack of trickle-down economics, a desperation to reach the EFL and the financial issues caused by the pandemic.
Television revenue is low. The new streaming service favours the biggest clubs. The 72 National League clubs gain just over £40,000 a season each from the Premier League, roughly the cost of one player on average wage when overheads are taken in. This just isn’t sustainable.
For many clubs, the option has been to seek outside, often foreign, investment. But that only creates a dependence on the continued generosity or funding of those individuals, and that can be risky. Even when those takeovers are successful, it merely creates a bottleneck at the top of the National League with its one automatic promotion spot. Most clubs in that division are merely left trying to survive year on year.
The proposed contract changes, with their reliance upon SSP, are a gross misstep that will likely be scaled back in some form. But they are a symptom not the disease. One alternative is simply that players lose out in a different way. Players will be offered shorter contracts with less long-term security so clubs are not left picking up sunken costs. Those players who have a history of injuries may find themselves as personae non grata.
The better solution is obvious: more trickle-down money. While the public recognises the interdependent relationship of the Premier League and EFL, more must be done to forge a connection that extends from the National League system upwards (and increasing an automatic promotion place from the National League would be a start). Otherwise, the rich get richer while those who share the pyramid are in danger of extinction.
Four members of England’s 2022 World Cup squad played non-league football, and you can add Tyrone Mings, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen to that list. It is a scandal that, in the divisions where those elite players were made, a financial crisis exists over tens of thousands in a country where the richest spend hundreds of millions. The new contracts are a no go, but they must be the start of a conversation not a stick with which every party wants to beat every other.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/qGn0ukj
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