The UK Government made an important decision last November when it cut men’s football out of the € 340 million aid for the sport. The objective was to avoid that the taxes of the citizens went to defray the millionaire salaries of the players of the Premier League. But, according to the Financial Times, some clubs, such as Tottenham and Arsenal, are receiving aid to some extent ‘in secret’.
The initiative of the month of November was a priori interesting because it led to those 340 million euros to be allocated to more minority sports and that have been more affected by the pandemic than a football that continues to run more or less normally today.
However, despite these good intentions, some English clubs would be benefiting from the aid to companies that the Government has launched during the pandemic.
The Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) is a tool created by the State by which large companies can receive financing from the Bank of England at low interest.
According to the Financial Times, there are several teams that have successfully claimed this aid. Arsenal have received 120 million pounds (135 million euros) and Tottenham Hotspur 175 million (198 million euros). Despite the fact that both have left large amounts of money in the past summer market, they have been able to access these government aid.
Carlos Vinicius, Sergio Reguilón and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg cost Tottenham about 50 million euros, only in transfer, without counting salaries, while Arsenal disbursed 75 million in the purchase of Thomas Partey and Gabriel, in addition to renewing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and put a stratospheric salary on Willian.
Is this going against what the Government indicates? No, according to the parameters established by this financing aid. In order to access the loans, you must be a company that “makes a material contribution to the United Kingdom”, that is not an “investment vehicle” and that was in good financial condition before the crisis, in addition to some minor requirements.
All of this is fulfilled by football clubs and even the English Federation (FA), which also requested a loan of 198 million euros to mitigate the setback of having to hold competitions such as the FA Cup and the League Cup without an audience. as well as England’s international matches.
The funny thing is that those who have been left out, or have received less aid, have been lower clubs, from categories like the Championship (Second Division) downwards, whose financial situation before the pandemic was not so buoyant.
This has sparked their complaints and opinion among them that low-interest loans to big-ticket clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur distort the competition and make the differences between the rich and the poor in football even more glaring.
And it is that while the small clubs suffer the ravages of not being able to give access to the public in the stadiums, with what that entails in terms of less merchandising and food and drink sold, the large ones suffer millionaire losses on the one hand while they ask borrowed from another.
According to a report by the firm Deloitte published this week, Tottenham reduced its profit by 90 million euros in the last fiscal year due to the pandemic, while Arsenal’s slowdown was 57 million.
Data that demonstrate the tremendous pothole that Premier League clubs are going through, affected by the reduction in television revenues and which the Government stopped dead by denying them the help of the 300 million, while allowing them to slip through the door of Bank of England loans.
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