Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Players forget the meaning of “club” on cuts
Despite Chelsea FC being one of the only sides in the country to have improved their reputation during the coronavirus, their players are struggling to do the same.
The Chelsea first team failed to agree to a pay cut in equal standing with other top members of the footballing community to help the club with the effects of the coronavirus. The club had apparently proposed a 10% cut, where the Premier League recommended a 30% cut, and Juventus and Barcelona’s players quickly agreed to 30% over a month ago.
It’s hard not to see parallels between life off the pitch and play on it. Not only are Juventus and Barcelona’s players 30% better footballers than Chelsea’s, they might be 30% better men, too. Even Arsenal’s players agreed to 12.5% (for the whole year) and Aston Villa’s did 25%. Real Madrid’s squad even accepted between 10%-20% per player depending on salary so as to keep things particularly fair.
Now over 60 days into the coronavirus pandemic they have already missed the opportunity to do the best thing by not making a decision more quickly.
A Chelsea statement read “At this time the men’s first team will not be contributing towards the club financially.”
If not for the grace and generosity of Roman Abramovich things would be very different for the staff at Stamford Bridge. The club has been housing, feeding and supporting National Health Service employees while supporting their match day staff as if the season had continued. That is so impressive, and surely costly.
Before long, they will be tapping the well of any resources for the next few transfer windows. They will have dented the foundations of the club for the future. They will be the reasons the club will not have money for reinforcements. We all know that won’t stop them complaining that the club didn’t add the strength to fulfill their “ambitions”.
The product on the pitch will suffer because the club has nothing left to give. It’s unlikely the players have the depth of character to say “well that is partially down to our spending the money on salaries”. They won’t. They’ll complain and publicly embarrass the club as not befitting their grand statures somehow yet again.
The players are dodging any understanding of the economics at play. Roman Abramovich has sustained the brunt of this until now, but how long can he continue? Should he?
Every member of the club and community should be indebted to one another and trying find a way to make this easier. It should not be a squabble for a few more pounds here and there as it appears to be at the moment.
The players have little justification not to be rushing to relieve Abramovich’s financial responsibilities towards the club, Abramovich who has been so generous with each of them.
Supporters at this very moment should be reluctant to share a badge with this group.
The honorable thing would have been for the players to come in and suggest that, in this time of worldwide economic hardship, they will take pay cuts, or at least agree to donate an equal percentage to certain causes. The club has suggested this, but there’s little evidence it will or has happened.
That’s what proper, stand up, honorable gentlemen would have done. Some likely want to do the right thing for the club and the community but are too weak to break the lines and do so. They should come out and do it and be celebrated as heroes of the people.
They should have done it weeks ago. This shouldn’t even be a discussion that we’re having. Yet, here we are, but we shouldn’t be surprised.
Next. Seven noteworthy one-and-done Chelsea players: Tiago, Meireles, and of course, Papy. dark
An agreement must be struck soon if the players are to save even a shred of their reputations. History will remember who did the right thing here. Roman Abramovich and the club will be on one side, the players – through their own choosing – will be on the other.