I always wondered how the Premier League bubble would pop. I always assumed that it would be when the TV money ran out, or the clubs pushed ticket prices to the point that fans just couldn’t afford to pay, or wouldn’t out of principle.
However, I now genuinely believe it is how clubs act during this national crisis (and it is, the like we have never endured) that might do it.
Think of all the millions and millions of people right now who have slipped between the cracks of the governments financial aid packages. The people who are having to apply for Universal Credit to put food in their families belly, the zero hours contract workers, the sole trader and self employed who may only have started out and put everything into their business who haven’t made a profit in these last couple of years who won’t get anything. They will be football fans.
Crucially though, think about all those NHS and key workers who are laying it on the line for us every single day, the sacrifice they are making. They will be football fans.
When, and if we get through this, there are going to millions of people who have a very different outlook on society, and reevaluate what is important, and who stood by them.
Football clubs worth billions taking money from the public purse, from schemes designed to help those who need it (see above) will not come out of this well.