Greed is the watchword

What does the word 'football' mean to you?
The beautiful game - or snouts in the trough?

The Merseyside Pensioners' Association supports the Spirit of Shankly statement condemning the proposed 'golden handshake' of £5 million to retiring Premier League chief Richard Scudamore who has earned more than £26 million for running the Premier League since 1999 (Liverpool Echo 16 November 2018).

We believe this proposal is further evidence of the Premier League providing a milch cow for the group at the top of the sport, who enrich themselves while the fans pay exorbitant ticket prices and grass roots development is inadequately funded.

We call for more democratic control of the game through the establishment of a board to include representatives from fans' organisations, junior football organisations, the NPC, the PFA, and the TUC, with full voting rights.

We believe this would ensure that the voice of all those interested and involved in the national game would be heard and acted upon and would provide oversight to curb any abuse of the deluge of wealth the game attracts.

We also note that the obscene payment to Scudamore is proposed when a United Nations report states that for almost one in every two children to be poor in twenty-first century Britain is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.

Tony Mulhearn, ARMS and
Media Officer, Merseyside Pensioners Association