Cod Almighty | Diary
Hope, despair and pride
28 July 2020
The last few days have brought both hope and despair. The news that football for Town would be resuming on 12 September, with crowds returning by October, brought hope of an end to the football famine. This was soon dashed by club chair Phil Day's concise and clear statement regarding the numbers likely to be admitted. As yesterday's excellent diary said, the capacity at Blundell Park will limit attendances to levels not seen since the dark days of the late 1960s.
Last season Casual Diary, along with my regular travelling comrades, took the principled decision that season tickets would not be renewed as long as John Fenty remained major shareholder. With the optimism of last summer and the Shutes' bid we thoroughly expected to renew, but to miss out on the early purchase discount. It proved to be optimism as misplaced as my wager on Town to win the league outright.
The decision had already almost come to bite us on the arse, forcing us into a mad scramble to secure tickets to Bradford and Scunthorpe. That it will now almost certainly mean that on resumption of football at Blundell Park we will be absent is a cause of great despair. Sometimes principles come at a cost.
The announcement yesterday that Young's would be continuing their sponsorship of GTFC was hailed by Day as a lifeline for the club. I have no doubt he speaks the truth. That one should be necessary while "the world's greatest league"™ continues to gorge itself on finances the rest can only envy makes a mockery of the so- called 'football family'.
The three teams relegated from the top flight will each receive a £48 million parachute payment to cushion the blow of relegation. Just one of those payments would cover the entire shortfall in revenue caused by COVID-19 for fourth division clubs, with £8 million to spare. Wycombe have tweeted that the £144 million combined payment for Premier League failure is more than they have spent on wages in their entire history. It highlights the chasm which has opened up in football.
You need no further evidence that TV revenues, rather than being the saviour of football, have been it's killer. The top flight teams receive a share of £399 million in prize money, a £34 million share of revenue and £43 million in international TV rights. It highlights why the gamble to reach the promised land is so alluring. The fate of so many clubs who have subsequently failed - like Hull, Bolton, Sunderland and Ipswich - show the dangers.
Football is broken. Whether the vested interests, Football League members, the Football Association and the government have the intelligence, backbone and principles to take the opportunity Covid provides to mend it is at best doubtful. That for once Grimsby Town appear to be on the right side of the debate is cause for both optimism and pride.
UTM