Ancelotti predicts financial fallout for football from virus crisis

Saturday, 28 March, 2020 94comments  |  Jump to most recent

Carlo Ancelotti believes that football, like so much of the world, will emerge changed from the coronavirus crisis when things eventually return to some sense of normality.

The Premier League is entering its third week of forced shutdown as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect Europe, with the United Kingdom still on a depressingly upward curve in terms of positive cases and deaths from the virus and with it, the timeframe for when football can return keeps getting moved further out.

Speaking in an interview with Corriere dello Sport, Ancelotti insists that he isn't concerned with when matches can resume but he admits that, financially, the game will necessary “downsize” amid the economic fallout of what is predicted to be a severe global recession.

“I'm certain we're all going to have to get downsized, starting with football,” the Italian said. “Today's priority is health to limit the contagion. Everything else is secondary.

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“When you start again when you finish, the dates, the promises, the hopes… believe me, I don't care in this moment and [that is] the last of my thoughts.

“The initial idea was to restart in May, but it's out of the question that we can do it. I hear talk of salary cuts, suspension of payments. They seem to me to be untimely, untimely solutions.

“Soon the economy will change, and at all levels, television rights will be worth less. Players and coaches will earn less, tickets will cost less because people will have less money. Let's prepare for a general decline.”

The Football Association and Premier League have said that games won't be played again until 30th April at the earliest but it is assumed that a new date will need to be set while the virus's spread gathers pace in England.

In the meantime, there is talk of players needing to agree to deferred salaries and potential wage cuts as football of all levels grapples with the effects of lost income and the unknown duration of the shutdown.

 

Reader Comments (94)

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Jamie Crowley
1 Posted 28/03/2020 at 16:09:47
There’s a lot of talk about everyone pitching in to do their part. I’d say in the main, humanity has done a fantastic job of coming together in a time of desperate need.

I do believe the players and coaches will be amenable to contract negotiations and amendments, resulting in pay cuts.

Most clubs work between 60% and 70% wages to revenue ratios. There’s going to have to be an adjustment moving forward. The days of Monopoly money are coming to an end. If not an end, than a serious restructuring.

Time will tell.

Wash your hands. Six feet apart.

Jay Wood
[BRZ]

2 Posted 28/03/2020 at 16:38:22
More wise words from our manager.

And Jamie.

Bog basic humanity, decency and empathy will get us through this.

The test will be how much will be retained once things 'normalize' again.

Brian Williams
3 Posted 28/03/2020 at 16:57:33
Unfortunately, I don't think many things WILL be retained, Jay. I've seen too many people in this world who make me believe that, a couple of months after things settle down to some sort of normality, they'll revert to type.

I know that sounds morose and negative but I've seen enough behaviour during this "adjustment" to make me think that way.

Kieran Kinsella
4 Posted 28/03/2020 at 16:59:10
Noticed the Bundesliga clubs have given up wages and donated millions. PSG as a club donated €100,000. Pretty meagre by comparison. It seems certain individuals in the UK e.g. Zaha, Naismith are stepping up but it would have been heartwarming to see a general move by clubs saying we will forego wages etc.

Bear in mind the TV channels want the season to end as they paid for it. If it doesn't, fans will want their TV money back. That money is presently in the hands of the players.

Colin Glassar
5 Posted 28/03/2020 at 17:59:32
So has the bubble finally burst? I, like Brian 3, think once this is over we will continue our mad dash towards collective suicide.

People will continue to spend more than they earn. The world's population will continue to explode. We will continue to destroy our environment. We will simply self-destruct. If not now, in a few years time.

Football will be back in a few months time. The shops and pubs will be back well before then and life will go on as though nothing has happened. Enjoy it while you can.

Jay Harris
6 Posted 28/03/2020 at 18:05:47
I echo Jamie's sentiments that the world, by and large, has come together but there are still a minority of selfish bastards who will always take the "I'm alright, Jack" approach.

While doctors and nurses (in particular) struggle and die in some cases, the greedy football associations, players etc revel in their greed and the scam artists revel in opportunist sales of bog roles and ineffective sanitizer.

I hope the caring will come out of this well and feeling good about their contribution. I wouldn't want to say what I would like to happen to the other lot.

Jay Harris
7 Posted 28/03/2020 at 18:21:08
Colin,

I think I'll go and slash my wrists then.

I think there is a consensus that we will go through a modern version of the Dark Ages but there is too much capability not to recover fully from this. The final outcome will not be the same. How can it for those who have suffered severe losses through this? How do you get over not being with your loved one while they die and then get stuffed in the back of a cold store van?

However, we are the most resilient of the animal species and we will come through this.

Colin Glassar
8 Posted 28/03/2020 at 18:40:28
Jay 7, I’m not saying our end as a species is imminent. I am in fact saying we will soon return to “normal service”. We are a resilient lot, but we also don’t seem to learn from past mistakes which makes me so pessimistic.
Mike Gaynes
9 Posted 28/03/2020 at 18:56:45
Jamie, I wish I felt as you do about humanity's response to this crisis.

I do believe that most humans, individually and collectively, have often shown common sense, magnificent courage and warm empathy in the face of the pandemic.

But humanity as a species? I'm afraid I'm not an admirer. The idiots, deniers, political opportunists and out-and-out saboteurs of the world's anti-pandemic efforts may not be a majority, but there are still far too many of them for me to absolve homo sapiens c.2020 of its self-destructive contribution to the chaos.

We should have done much, much better.

Especially in our own off-the-rails nation.

Mike Hughes
10 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:01:46
Golfer and Evertonian Tommy Fleetwood is suggesting the Ryder Cup may be the light at the end of the tunnel for the sporting world. It is scheduled for 25 September.

Nobody knows what will happen, of course. But suggestions of a May or June scheduling of Premier League matches seems very premature.

Let's be honest, sport would be welcome back, but there are far higher priorities right now and for the immediate future.

(I just wish they'd put the RS out of their misery and null and void 19-20 now. This is getting cruel. The sooner the news is delivered, the sooner the healing can begin 😇).

Stan Schofield
11 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:02:14
Things will probably return pretty much to normal, in a world that has become progressively more peaceful, safe and healthy. But the threat of this virus might prompt some people to take stock, and realise that, if you have your health, you don't really have any problems.

It might even prompt some to stop rushing around like blue-arsed flies to no effect, and could reduce what has become a habitual problem of people being pressured to continue entering the workplace when they are unwell.

Hugh Jenkins
12 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:03:04
I think the impact of this will be far-reaching. Many high street stores have been struggling ever since the advent of online shopping. I think many of those that closed last Friday, and will never re-open again. Ditto many pubs.

I think too that the days of the "Global economy" will be redressed – for example, you can't get a tin of baked beans in most places in the UK now... why? – because they're primarily all manufactured in northern Italy (including Heinz's and Tesco's own brand etc.

Our exit from the EU should, coupled with Covid-19, encourage us as "the British people" to start taking back some responsibility for ourselves and to try, wherever possible, to start to manufacture our own goods and grow, wherever possible, our own food on this "Sceptered Isle".

India, apparently, despite the lockdown, is expecting 300,000,000 cases of Covid-19 and 5,000,000 deaths.

To quote Sir Winston Churchill after the second battle of El Alamein, "Now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning".

This virus is already world-changing and culture-changing and, I fear, there are going to be a lot more changes to come.

Tony Abrahams
13 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:09:22
If we don't learn just on the levels of carbon monoxide, that have shifted from all over the planet, during the last few weeks, then we don't deserve our planet, and that's coming from a city-kid, who knows very little about the environment.
Mark Andersson
14 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:18:42
The darkest of days have yet to come...

Every one has been affected by this global shut down.

Both myself and partner have lost our jobs with no financial assistance. We have enough money to last us a month at best. Talk of new signings at ridicules prices just add insult to people like me. One week's wages of your average Premier League player would be enough to last me a few years.

My partner suffers intolerable migraines when stressed and this whole situation has sent her into a black hole of pain and despair yet she remains optimistic that it will come good..

I share the view that life will not return to any kind of normal... simply because life before this crisis was not normal.

The obscene money in football, the greed the corruption was in itself pathetic. I hope Carlo is right. In the meantime, stay clean and stay safe. See you on the other side of insanity...

Colin Glassar
15 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:21:17
Hugh, no baked beans? That's it. I give up!

On a more serious note, we really need to look at ourselves and look at how we are killing this beautiful blue planet of ours. Our only home.

Andy Crooks
16 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:29:47
Best wishes to you and your wife, Mark.
Stephen Brown
17 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:36:37
Carlo doesn't half talk a lot of sense and in a dignified statesman-like way!

Missing the football but more important things going on I'd say. All the best everyone on ToffeeWeb. Thank you to Carlo for representing Everton so well!

Jay Harris
18 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:39:47
I once read a book (really!) cant remember the author but he studied and recorded details of the breakdown of all the ancient empires Persian, Greek, Roman, Spanish etc.

The main thrust of his findings were that as the populus grew more and more affluent it caused a drop in morals and ethics and a flagrant disregard for the environment which ultimately led to a breakdown in society.

If you look now at some of the undeservedly rich and their lifestyles it causes a lot of resentment especially as most of their income is coming from the man in the steet and his hard earned.

Now I don't envy anyone who has got wealthy from a good invention or hard work, in fact I laud them, but when you've got arsehole characters drawing £100k a week for sitting on a bench or at home, there is something wrong somewhere and that needs correcting every bit as much as coronavirus.

Sean Kelly
19 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:43:06
Best wishes to all on here. It's up to us to make the changes when this crazy period passes. We can't let the the greedy bankers and greedy speculators expect us to line up obligingly and subserviently when this is done. While this is going on, these bastards are making money out of people's misery.

Fuck football. The problem IS life or death for many, but remember, this WILL pass but don't forget the greedy bastards.

We have to look after our loved ones, our neighbours and those presently unknown to us in our community. Please reach out. No matter how difficult your situation is or may become, please stand by those struggling.

If you don't know how to help, just ask. Governments don't know how to do it at a local level. They forgot that many many years ago.

We are better equipped to do it, and through it, you will make someone feel better about themselves and in turn you will grow as a person. We can deal will the greedy bastards later.

Sorry for the rant, folks, but elderly and vulnerable people are waiting on us, in our communities wherever you are.

Stay safe and best wishes to all.

Eric Paul
20 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:55:13
I wouldn't bet on the world being a better place after the Covid-19 pandemic is over... How many wars have there been since the Spanish Flu pandemic?
Jeff Spiers
21 Posted 28/03/2020 at 19:59:29
The rich DO NOT give a fuck. Never have done. Never will. This is the start of a worldwide cull of less fortunate peoples.

World Wars 1 and 2 (just to name to) were an excuse to decimate the male population. Read into that as you will.

Just think how big the population would be now. Call me an old idiot or whatever. Really look into history. STAY SAFE

Sean Kelly
22 Posted 28/03/2020 at 20:15:56
Jeff yep you are a “whatever”. Stay safe
Rob Halligan
23 Posted 28/03/2020 at 20:25:44
Every night this week I've stood in the back garden with the dog, wondering how the hell the world has got into this mess? While I've been out there, there has been a clear sky, showing countless millions of stars, along with the moon. I've stood there thinking if any of these stars / planets are going through the same depressing situation we currently find ourselves in.

Every night, the planet Venus has stuck out like a sore thumb. If you look out towards the West you will seen a quarter moon and looking just to the right of the moon is a really bright star, the planet Venus. It's almost like you can reach out and touch it, even though it's only a mere 76 million miles away. The moon and Venus look so peaceful, side by side, but with no life whatsoever on either of them.

I've always believed there is life on another planet, somewhere, anywhere, out in that black wilderness, and let's hope they are not going through the depression we are currently experiencing.

We will get through this, and I just want to echo what countless others have said on various threads, we need to make sure everyone remains safe, abide by what the government is telling us and we will come out stronger the other side.

COYB!!

Ray Roche
24 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:04:05
Jeff @21

Jeff, I've read a couple of books about the Holocaust and Auschwitz lately and wondered myself what the population would be if the 80m-85m hadn't perished. Russia, in particular, lost millions of citizens. The human loss of life and level of suffering is indescribable.

Had it not happened, would we think of the world as overcrowded? Of course, we wouldn't know any different so the answer is no, but would the world be a different place? Probably.

Rob, I've sat here and looked at the Moon and Venus myself, although something red and French played a part, beautiful thing to see.

Brent Stephens
25 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:04:49
Mike, my wife and I watched that sky last night. Awesome view of Venus. And again tonight. Something bigger than us all in this crisis.

Nice post.

Jerome Shields
27 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:15:08
My daughter's boyfriend was in Singapore. There they take your temperature before you go into any premises.

There is a big contrast in the nations that are proactive, rather than reactive. It seems that like Italy and Spain, the UK and USA are more reactive. Governments in these reactive nations were thinking more in terms of the financial fall and not their citizens' well being.

In another thread, I mentioned that we are in a War Economy situation. The fallout or reactive nations will be greater than those that have been proactive.

As Ancelotti has said, this will be reflected in football as well.

Robert Williams
28 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:15:43
Bloody hell, I came on here tonight to cheer myself up after reading all this lot I am now morbidly depressed.

Anyone got any moonshine?

Paul Birmingham
29 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:19:19
All and your families stay safe and healthy.

As Carlo has indicated when the BAU, so called returns, the perspective on life and its priorities will be different.

Seeing the news shots from here, Italy, and it puts it in perspective.

Time to take stock. I don’t expect this season here, or any where to be fudged and all will be nul and void.

That’s life but that’s right in these unprecedented times for man kind.

Derek Knox
30 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:23:28
Many very poignant posts on this thread and to a degree a reassurance that TW has in the main, decent human beings as it's members. I just wish I believed that society reflected that of TW, but sadly I don't believe it does.

Mike G @9, alluded to it in his post about the disparity between those who either have political power and privilege, or wealth that most can only dream of, but having money in these times, as it stands doesn't buy you an awful lot that isn't there.

There are still many amongst us in the general populace who only think of themselves, last week it was the stock-pilers, before the shops introduced some sort of Control.

There is a new problem with that is now the shelves are pretty much replenished, but the queues are verging on the ridiculous, older people can't be standing in queues for hours just to get the basics, bread, milk, fruit and vegetables etc.

While those queues are generally well-spaced in terms of Social Distancing, the Supermarkets are only allowing a small number to go in at a time, basically a one out one in regime.

Enough of all that which I'm sure we are all aware of anyway, but just hope that there is an end somewhere soon, and I mean a good end at that. Call me a conspiracist but I just do not trust politicians at the best of times. I still have doubts about whether we are being led in the right direction, and yes they should have acted differently from the start.

We can all be wise in retrospect, and in fairness this is a relatively unknown enemy, but I sincerely believe expert advice should have been sought at the first whiff of anything in Wuhan.

Regards to all on TW and stay safe, think of others in a worse position than ourselves> We will pull through this, and there will be some sort of return on subsidence of this virus. Will it ever be the same? I doubt it, but I just hope that lessons are learned when it is eventually over. Again, because some of the people we call fellow human beings, will continue to act as anything but.

Andy Crooks
31 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:53:08
Robert @ 28, do some baking. I did it yesterday and believe me it took my mind off everything. I decide to make some soda farls. Saw them made at the Folk and Transport museum and it looked like a piece of piss to make them. Don't know if you guys have ever heard of them but they are delicious.

Anyway, decided to combine the baking with a wee bit of gardening. I thought oven gloves were inflammable. It is incredible how long it takes to get the smell of burning out of a kitchen.

My wife had gone to collect a prescription, the surprise I planned for her return was different, much different. Honest to God, her overreaction was just typical.

Try new things... I like your post, Rob, our ancestors watched the same stars. Sometimes I take a glass of wine out and look at the stars and reflect. I did it just before Christmas and tumbled into the shrubbery. Ended up with a black eye. When I went to bed, my wife, who never swears, said, "Why are there leaves on your fucking pillow?"

Tony Everan
32 Posted 28/03/2020 at 21:55:21
Premier League, FA, and EFL had a videoconference today, rumoured they agreed in principle that a 4-6 week blast from the start of July is favoured to finish the season behind closed doors.

Sounds very optimistic to me, but it sounds like the tv rights money will be brought home by whatever means necessary, however contentious, as long as it is a playing card's width this side of the law.

Paul Birmingham
33 Posted 28/03/2020 at 22:25:39
Andy @31, bought the ingredients and baking plus weather permitting, I'll be working – wfh, baking and etching it out like all of us.

BBQs, look iffy, as it's Baltic, but any chance I'll be out.

Sadly no chance, also neither to go fishing, as is right due to isolation.

This is having massive impacts on the economy and jobs, and I'm taking each day as it comes.

The main and most important facts is stay safe and healthy.

If and when next season starts and what ever year, the positivity in football from high-level money sponsors, won't be the same.

It could be interesting times for all, and for EFC, more important we get BMD right in all aspects.

Kieran Kinsella
34 Posted 28/03/2020 at 22:55:02
Venus is much like Earth will be with global warming, Rob. Another cheery thought.
Bob Parrington
35 Posted 28/03/2020 at 00:10:41
I wrote on another thread that maybe the Climate Change activists will be happier than most. This virus has likely been responsible for reducing carbon emissions within 3 months to levels they were looking to reach in 50 years.

A little tongue-in-cheek, eh! But.

In regard to mankind, the inequalities have surged rapidly and there is far too much money in too few hands. Ultimately, this is not sustainable. I wish I was bright enough to think of the solution.

Earlier a posting mention the Holocaust and how many millions died as a result. This virus appears to be picking off the aged and those with pre-existing medical conditions. As ever, this will hit individuals in society in general but, probably, the mega-wealthy will not be so hard hit because of ability to isolate and access to individual health care because of their wealth. Once this pandemic is under control, they will still have the greed, the assets etc etc and will carry on hoarding the $$$$$.

While isolating, can I recommend books by author, Yuval Noah Harari. Three of them are "Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind", "HomoDeus: A Brief History of Tomorrow " and "21 Lessons for the 21st Century: An exploration of what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment". Can be a little heavy at times but well worth the time.

Take care, stay safe everybody!

Karl Masters
36 Posted 28/03/2020 at 00:12:09
Andy Crooks 31. Lol moment! 🤣 Leaves on your pillow! Cheered me up no end after reading some of the depressing stuff.
Bob Parrington
37 Posted 29/03/2020 at 00:32:16
Before going off-topic, I meant to write that, in Carlo, we seem to have more than a successful football manager but a really decent human being! Thanks for joining Everton, Carlo.
Julian Wait
38 Posted 29/03/2020 at 03:22:34
@Hugh #12 - I hate to be a downer, but for the US and the UK, I don't believe we're even at the end of the beginning, unfortunately. Maybe the middle thereof. It hasn't even started yet, really. and maybe, just maybe we can slow down the trajectory to the middle. That's actually a good thing, to have a long middle.

Indeed, I come here only because I miss the banter and community, it would be hard to imagine getting excited about a live game right now.

I did however just watch highlights of Everton vs Bayern and Everton vs Rapid. Happy days.

Eric Myles
40 Posted 29/03/2020 at 03:38:45
Derek #30,

What experts could Wuhan have called on for advice given that nobody has been through this before?

And given that the "experts" being trotted out now cannot agree among themselves, they are all just blindly guessing.

One has to hope though that they will take on-board the lessons learned from this so any further pandemics will not be left to guesswork.

Alan J Thompson
41 Posted 29/03/2020 at 05:07:40
I'm sorry but I don't think much will change at all.

It is not the players that will need convincing – it is their agents. Lower-level players will probably have to undergo a small pay cut (small by higher-paid players standards) but the better paid will probably just have a clause inserted into their contracts that says pay may be suspended should anything like this, war or some other unforeseeable event occur and in the full knowledge that this is most probably a once-in-a-career or, more likely, lifetime, event. And in a supply-and-demand market, clubs will be only too willing to pay the best players what they demand.

If anything does change, it will more likely be that a lot of clubs may provide their own televised service which will again see the most benefit to a certain few clubs while they maintain their levels of success, and the circle starts again.

Jack Convery
42 Posted 29/03/2020 at 06:54:46
Well said, the Don. We have a genuine human being at the helm.

I, like all of us, hope this is over as soon as possible. However, when it is, I believe the blame game will start once the biggest sigh of relief mankind has ever heard is over.

My fear is Trump will lead the way as he will divert attention from his pathetic efforts to control the virus in the USA. We can all guess who will follow him, can't we? Let's hope the mob don't follow him... but I fear they will.

Annika Herbert
43 Posted 29/03/2020 at 07:38:03
My father is a seaman and currently due to leave his ship in the UK. However, his home is in the Philippines. He cannot get home for obvious reasons and, even if he did, he cannot get back to us, as the Philippines is in total lockdown. He will also be off wages from the 31st of March.

When you hear of situations like this during the current crisis, we have to be thankful just to have our, hopefully, continued good health. But I can't help but worry about my Father.

Although he lives in the Philippines, he is still a UK citizen and I have no idea whether he will qualify for any kind of help. Unless he can find another ship fairly quickly, he will run out of funds by the end of April. These are the type of situations we are having to deal with so it's heartening to hear our manager talk such sense.

Spare a thought for my father, guys, he is also a mad Evertonian.

Derek Knox
44 Posted 29/03/2020 at 07:52:40
Eric @ 40,

I was referring to the experts in this country, when news came through about Wuhan. There were Brits and Europeans there, plus those aboard the cruise ships. All these were likely to be repatriated at some point, and the risk of it coming into the country was obviously high.

Eddie Dunn
45 Posted 29/03/2020 at 09:30:02
Some interesting reflections on our way of life here. Football reflects society and it will have to change, just as (hopefully) society will do at the "end" of this episode.

The world has been abused for years and its leaders have been complacent. Our country has had governments that have neglected public services and abandoned emergency plans in the endless desire for growth.

I have never understood the need for economic growth. If a population is increasing, then I can see the logic, but even when our population has been fairly static, the economic aim of governments has been to grow the economy.

I can understand trying to increase productivity, encouraging ways to improve reliability. The UK though has, in the last 30 years, been chasing the fast buck. Roads are patched-up to be patched-up again 3 years later. Public services have been allowed to slowly deteriorate.

We are knee-deep in service industries and our economy seems to be so reliant on the financial sector operating out of London, which in turn has become a convenient place for the oligarchs to clean their dirty money.

The working class have been priced out of their rented housing in London. The folk who clean the streets, drive the buses and police the capital are having to travel further and further to go to work.

European ideals of raising living standards across the continent have been undermined by the exploitation of cheaper labour and we see large groups of people from Eastern Europe having to live cheek-by-jowl in poor housing, a thousand miles from their families. The minions milling around our cities are merely expendable assets that can be replaced ad-infinitum.

Boris and Donald couldn't give a monkey's if we lost a million of the old working class. They have moved the pension age and the state pays landlords their rent money whilst propping-up their friends' companies who pay their staff minimum wages or zero-hours contracts.

So that's the poor people (and rich) all paying the wealthy out of our tax contributions, but it is made to look like the government are having to help out the poor, who are so crap that they can't earn enough.

The disparity between rich and poor has grown over the last 20 years. Football has reflected this in an obscene way. The players and coaches now earning such vast sums compared to the man on the street.

I look into the sky here in Wales and there are virtually no vapour trails. Normally, I can count 10 or so. Surely many of these planes are full of people who could make a conference call?

Finally, when I hear that our nurses and doctors, not to mention porters, orderlies and cleaners, are lacking basic PPE, I recall how our troops were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan driving soft-shell landrovers, without kevlar body armour.

The government love to praise the public servants during a crisis, but their neglect has left these brave souls in serious danger. The simple reason is... they don't give a hoot!

Martin Mason
46 Posted 29/03/2020 at 10:29:43
Kieran@34

Don't worry about that. The situation on Venus is completely different to that on earth. There is no problem on Venus and in my opinion none on earth. The real physics is that increasing carbon diaoxide has no significant impact on temperature or climate. Man-made global warming (MMGW) is a political issue.

Bob Parrington
47 Posted 29/03/2020 at 11:43:07
Eddie @45,

Wow! Quite a damning indictment of the current society. But I agree to some extent. My wife, kids and I have worked our butts off for the past 40 years to build our business and we are just about comfortable. However, we could lose all in this current pandemic environment. We have employees that we do not want to lose and will do all we can to keep them. I am sure there are lots of SMEs that feel the same as we do.

Where I am perhaps in agreement with the thrust of your post is that I feel society has gone haywire with far too much money being in the hands of too few people, to a ridiculous and unsustainable degree. The rest of us are puppets. This has to change but, guess what, the shit heads who started the rot on the stock market will have sold at the high and will buy at the low. So they will become even wealthier.

So the balance will become even worse than before. Even more unsustainable! Something has to give. I wish I knew the answer as to what?

Robert Williams
48 Posted 29/03/2020 at 11:52:48
Lots of disturbing talk about family here, quite rightly so, we are all concerned for our loved ones which reminds me of the old ditty -''

'and my little sister Lily was a pro in Piccadilly
and my mother was another in the Strand
and my father sold his ass ole,
in the Elephant and Castle
We're the finest fucking family in the land!!'

We are Everton!!

Robert Williams
49 Posted 29/03/2020 at 11:56:31
Annika 43 - Hope your father gets sorted soon.

ps: If we are all cooped up for as long as they say, we will all be "Mad" Evertonians before long!!

Chris Williams
50 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:07:39
Bob,

I was reading that Jeff Bezos sold off a load of stock, just before the price tanked.

It may have been $3.4B, or it may have been only $34M, which is obviously much more acceptable!


Chris Williams
51 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:09:55
Robert,

That sounds a lot like my family.

We’re not related are we?

Bob Parrington
52 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:12:55
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Evertonian.


Hugh Jenkins
53 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:37:33
Colin 15 - LOL - baked beans - merely used to demonstrate the fact that we manufacture next to nothing and are dependant on many other countries for our basic food supplies. I could have equally used spam or corned beef as examples, either of which seem equally inaccessible ATM.

Last year, you may remember that floods in Spain meant that we were short of tomatoes and lettuce in our shops for a couple of months.

Marks and Spencer fly in their pre packed runner beans from Kenya.

I couldn't get any eggs at my local Tesco's this week

In short, no air travel or international commerce and we, as an island, will quickly be back where we were in WW2.

The rationing has already started - as imposed by the supermarkets.

Bob Parrington
54 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:39:58
Hugh, Same here in Australia. We manufacture SFA. As in UK, the successive governments over the past 25 years have been dipshits.
Bob Parrington
55 Posted 29/03/2020 at 12:45:56
Jesus - Shane Warne wouldn't survive Covid-19 if there are no Heinz Baked Beans on the shelves.
Eddie Dunn
56 Posted 29/03/2020 at 13:00:38
Bob, like you I run (a very small) business -just my wife and I. We used to employ a few people back when we were working 80 hours a week for years. Now we struggle along, and like others, the financial repercussions will hit us hard for the near future, at the very least.
The problem I see is a lowering in the standard (and availability) of good education, healthcare and the social fabric of our country.
I look at some of our European neighbours and see their standard of living, and it makes me realise that in our country, the toffs are making far too much and neglecting the ordinary people.
Instead of a steady trickle-down of the wealth, we receive a few crumbs from the table.
The chancellor offered the self-employed a few bob based on their profit but added that therefore we should be expected to pay more into the system in future.
I have never had sick pay or holiday pay and although my tax might be lower than PAYE the fact is that most of the revenue comes into the coffers from VAT, tax on alchohol, fuel etc.
The govt get huge revenue from taxing everything in sight. Stamp duty! Death tax...you work hard and pay tax on earnings, manage to buy a house, then they want to tax those assets again when you're dead!
Now the "Opium of the People" our beloved football, is gone.
The elite must be getting worried...people might start thinking just how badly they are being ripped-off.
Derek Thomas
57 Posted 29/03/2020 at 13:01:58
Bob @ 54; check your tins, if you have any, most Australian baked beans are made in NZ.
Alan J Thompson
58 Posted 29/03/2020 at 13:03:14
Bob (#52); Australians all let us ring Joyce for she is young and free.
Not to mention the track running back from your... yes, well.
Tony Abrahams
59 Posted 29/03/2020 at 13:24:23
I'd go along with Eddie@45, that's exactly how I see a lot of things you have mentioned mate.

Rob H, I agree mate, the sky looks so much clearer, I remember living in New Zealand, and looking at the stars, was something I would never tire of, because it's not something we are used to coming from the Northern hemisphere.

I'm shocked that carbon dioxide is not an issue with regards climate and temperature, Martin, so what's the problem, over-population? Because New Zealand is a long way from most places, it doesn't have a big population, and the air is so much clearer, honestly. But I often go to North Wales and also think the sky looks much clearer in the summer time when I'm there.

Bob Parrington
60 Posted 29/03/2020 at 13:30:26
Alan @58,

But what a great tune for an Everton Anthem.

Jerome Shields
61 Posted 29/03/2020 at 14:10:27
Annika #43,

Good luck to your father.

Derek Knox
62 Posted 29/03/2020 at 14:51:22
Robert @48, from your ditty it sounds like it was a family run wholesale business! :-)
Paul Birmingham
63 Posted 29/03/2020 at 14:52:33
Annika @43, our thoughts and hopes are with your Dad.
Tom Bowers
64 Posted 29/03/2020 at 15:18:25
One thing I have learnt over the many years I have been fortunate to be on this planet is that things change.

Apart from Mother Nature, changes usually come about through the actions of humans and one suspects that, if the world comes to an end as we know it, we will cause it ourselves.

After the two great wars many, many things changed but human nature very rarely does. We do over-react when certain things happen so what is happening in the stores today is no surprise.

The domino effect is in full swing and will probably get worse before it gets better. I cannot see sport being any better and everyone has to bite the bullet.

Those lucky few who are well off will survive better and also some of those who have contingency plans but we are all hoping that this ''plague'' peaks soon before too many lose everything.

I foresee the 2020-21 football season start being shortened for next season to accommodate the finish of this one.

Jack Convery
65 Posted 29/03/2020 at 16:00:06
Eddie Dunn - you are so right. No longer a country united but divided by a few self-serving knobs and their ilk. It has to change but will it, I wonder?

If this season cannot start at the beginning of June, which seems unlikely, it should be scrapped. Then let the EFL and FA sort it out as that's what they are paid for.

Eric Myles
66 Posted 29/03/2020 at 16:05:33
Martin #46, I read something today that said the CO2 affects the wind cycles, pushes wind streams South I think, and therefore affects the weather. rainfall and temperature. Can turn a jungle into desert and vice versa.

Not that I care, but an expert said it, so it must be true.

Alan J Thompson
67 Posted 29/03/2020 at 16:13:48
Eric (#66); I believe that the Roaring Forties are now the Roaring Forty Threes.
Eric Myles
68 Posted 29/03/2020 at 16:20:12
Eddie #56, you think the Europeans have a better standard of living than UK?

I've recently been to quite a few places in Spain, Italy, Greece and France and outside the major cities they are subsidence farmers. One place in Spain I described to friends as "looking like Lodge Lane after the riots".

Even in the cities the standards of accommodation are poor unless you live in one of the new ultra modern high rise blocks, which of course you need a lot of money to afford.

Joe McMahon
69 Posted 29/03/2020 at 16:29:19
Eddie@56 certainly France, and certain areas of Spain. But the biggest gulf is still the north/south divide on the UK. The standard of life, infrastructure and investment just gets bigger year on year down there. Not just London but everywhere south of Brum.
Dave Evans
70 Posted 29/03/2020 at 17:24:56
Amazing that a virus smaller than the wave length of light can evoke such panoramic political analysis and solution.

For posters beginning to turn on the scientists. Coronavirus can be tested for and the spread slowed but the only things that will effectively kill the virus on infection are our own T an NK cells.

Carlo as usual talks a lot of sense. We are lucky to have him representing our club through this crisis and beyond.

Denny Kerr
71 Posted 29/03/2020 at 18:35:35
Robert #28

I do have some moonshine, and would love to give you some. Unfortunately I'm in Tennessee.

I call my Dad in Burtonwood every day now, he's 92 and when I asked how he was handling it all, he said, "Son, if Hitler didn't get me, this is not going to."

I always wondered how that generation survived the war years, I think I'm about to find out.

Robert Williams
72 Posted 29/03/2020 at 22:25:14
Denny 71.

That's a pity, Tennessee is a long way - otherwise I might have been tempted to pop over for a dram.

As for Hitler - my mother used to take me under the stairs to shelter as his bombers passed over to bomb Liverpool.

Any chance you can send your dad a barrel of that stuff over for bottling in Burtonwood? - Would take his mind off things!!

Regards.

Robert Williams
73 Posted 29/03/2020 at 22:32:09
Derek @62. "family run wholesale business?"

All I can say is that they all got stuck in!! The only running involved was from the police.

Chris @51. "Could we be related/?

No idea mate but they had 'relations' with lots, for a few quid.

Paul Smith
74 Posted 29/03/2020 at 23:20:28
Hey, Joe, come to Portsmouth or the Isle of Wight and point me towards this divide? Deprevation, inequality, opioid/opiate addiction, poor educational attainment, low life expectancy – it's all here, mate.

To travel 4 miles from the Isle of Wight to the mainland is £30 a time, no subsidies and few concessions. Some people have never left the Isle of Wight and, if you're poor there, you're fucked. Very little social or cultural capital or any ability to broaden your horizons leads to an insular and small-minded outlook.

It's grim right down South.

Jeff Spiers
75 Posted 30/03/2020 at 06:52:32
This idea may help or not. Here goes.YouTube The Specials- Ghost Town. Pharrell Williams- Happy. SAHB-Boston Tea Party. Style Council-Long Hot Summer. I think you get my drift. Would be glad to hear ToffeeWebbers music moments. Cheers
Jerome Shields
76 Posted 30/03/2020 at 07:47:44
NHS Primary care staff are being sent in to fight a War against Coronavirus, just like troops fighting on the frontline. They will be treated the same.
David Price
77 Posted 30/03/2020 at 10:43:25
Shortened season 20-21 after a late finish to this one. I guess everyone plays each other just once. 19 games only, pot luck who gets the tougher/easier home and away games. One-off knock-outs in European competitions, like the old days.

Season could start in December and finish by May... Or will it be, more games more money; let's see what lessons we do actually learn?

Stay safe...

Harry Wallace
78 Posted 30/03/2020 at 12:39:09
Having an economic meltdown will kill more people than the virus.

Mass unemployment, reduce NHS investment (currently record highs) and pension funds collapsing.

Hence why we need tests ASAP to get recovered people back to work.

Robert Williams
79 Posted 30/03/2020 at 15:14:32
HW78'
Getting people back to work!
There will be work, perhaps not the same work as some have been accustomed to. Now that we are out of the EU and a shortage of migrant workers, the agricultural industry will/are crying out for labour. That will not suit everyone as it will mean getting their hands dirty and putting in a shift. In fact it could well be a place for some of our highly paid football super-stars to self isolate and keep in trim until this little episode blows over.
Just a thought for you to kick around.
Paul Jones
80 Posted 30/03/2020 at 16:16:50
When Everton resume playing football, I would hope that we can help our neighbours South Liverpool who were comfortably leading West Cheshire League 1 when the season was abandoned. A night game under floodlights would be apt given that they were the first team in the city to play such a game.

The dignity of the club in the circumstances is something that we and others should learn from.

Mark Boullé
81 Posted 31/03/2020 at 15:27:20
If there is to be one outcome above all else from all this, let it be that those disgusting wet markets that proliferate all over Asia, particularly in China, are banned for good and all. There is ample evidence that this, and previous, widespread viruses originated in them and they are also the cruellest thing imaginable!
Dave Evans
82 Posted 31/03/2020 at 17:05:02
Well said Mark.
Brian Williams
83 Posted 31/03/2020 at 17:17:27
Mark. I wouldn't hold out much hope for that, unfortunately.
Mike Gaynes
84 Posted 31/03/2020 at 17:36:37
Mark #81, that's already been done in China. They stupidly did not learn from SARS/bird flu, but they got the message this time. All live markets now prohibited by law.

Perversely, I'll actually miss it a bit. I enjoyed watching them kill and pluck my chosen chicken dinner. And no chicken I've had ever tasted that fresh. But it had to be done.

Eric Paul
85 Posted 31/03/2020 at 17:45:12
What about the cats, dogs and other creatures some of which are endangered that get killed inhumanly
Dave Evans
86 Posted 01/04/2020 at 07:58:40
Mike @84

Whether a chicken dinner was to your taste is a bit irrelevant. As well as the genetic fallout from lumping a myriad of species into such an environment, there's also a basic animal welfare and suffering issue here.

On the Premier League, T=the latest big idea is to have a compressed World Cup type format to finish it. So, at all cost, the lizard elite across the park can be crowned.

Eric Myles
87 Posted 01/04/2020 at 10:45:57
Mike #84, me Mam used to do that to chickens back in the 60s.

And for those that think Asians kill animals inhumanely, you should visit a western abbatoir, or stop eating meat.

But remember, plants have feelings too!!!!!

Eric Paul
88 Posted 01/04/2020 at 12:24:48
I don't think abattoirs kill anything unstunned with a baseball bat.

We all dine on death.

Ray Roche
89 Posted 01/04/2020 at 12:37:47
My Dad used to pluck and stuff our turkey every Christmas. Then came the difficult bit. Killing it.
Dave Evans
90 Posted 01/04/2020 at 12:41:34
Eric @ 87

I cannot see anywhere on the thread a poster mentioning 'how Asians kill animals'. Perhaps you're inventing a poster in your head and then constructing a reply to what they've said in there?

There is as little evidence that plants have feelings, as there is in regard to the odd Eric of the world.

David Midgley
91 Posted 01/04/2020 at 12:55:01
Robert #48. Where did his verse come from, obviously Victorian?

Derek #62. Freudian slip, holesale?

Hugh #12, Colin #15 The gases are toxic. This thread has been so interesting and thought-provoking, possibly one of the best I've read on here. You can always count on TW not to disappoint.

The star contemplation is great; however, if you would like to contemplate something slightly different and on a daily basis. Facebookpage -- I'm at Crosby Beach and the weather is.

These are scary times. We will eventually come out of this Covid mist into clearer skies. Things will change. People are having a severe reality check. Making them think a bit more about what's what.

Everton have been one of the loves of my life since 1954. Greedy footballers and agents should realise now that, in the scheme of things, they're only kicking a ball about. Not helping society.

Great posts from you all thank you.

Chris Williams
92 Posted 01/04/2020 at 13:16:26
Jeff@75

Try

Warren Zevon
Play it All Night Long.
Lawyers, Guns and Money.
Even a dog can shake hands

James McMurtry
Choctaw Bingo
Racing for the Red Light
Just Us Kids

The Who
Magic Bus (Live at Leeds)

Eric Myles
93 Posted 01/04/2020 at 15:23:39
Dave #90, read post #85.

As for plants having feelings, don't people talk to them and play them music? Just ask Prince Charles.

Jeff Spiers
94 Posted 01/04/2020 at 15:47:39
Chris@92. Will do. Cheers
Chris Williams
95 Posted 01/04/2020 at 21:34:01
Jeff

Then again there’s (play fucking loud!)

Doctor John
Rite Away
Such a Night (Last Waltz)

Fairport Convention
A Sailors Life
Si tu dois partir

Band (Last Waltz)
Mystery Train
Rag Mama Rag

Guaranteed to lift the spirits.

Joseph Mputu
96 Posted 01/04/2020 at 21:49:03
I occasionally dip into RAWK usually to find little snippets to share where the other lot are whinging about some misfortune that have beset them. Tonight however, I read through a thread they have on coronavirus and quite honestly some of what I read there brought heavy tears to my eyes. They related some heart rending stories about relatives who have died in the last few days or are dying of this awful disease. My heart went out to them. Football rivalries has never been more irrelevant.

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