Premier League will survive but lower leagues are dying, asserts Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger has affirmed that while the Premier League will survive, lower league clubs within English football face a fight for their lives over problems stemming from the coronavirus. The pandemic has had serious financial implications on the football world, even affecting the Premier League.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected Premier League, and football on a whole, more than anyone expected with it forcing the Ligue 1 to prematurely end their season. Not only that despite the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga resuming their season, reports indicate that financial losses will be severe for all four leagues. Deloitte has already reported that the English top tier could lose upto £1bn in their revenues for the 2019-20 season.
However, the accountancy firm hasn’t revealed any details about the potential losses in the EFL although they did confirm that clubs within the EFL topped a combine £1 billion in revenue for the first time. But FIFA's chief of global football development Arsene Wenger admitted that the lower leagues in England are in for a tough fight despite them touching that figure for last season. The former Arsenal boss also added that football needs to band together and figure out a way to help these clubs survive.
“It is very concerning because we live in a world today which is mainly focused on regrouping the elite and you know well the cases in England. In England, the lower leagues are dying. The Premier League will survive, I don't worry about the Premier League. You worry more out of the 92 clubs you have 65 clubs that lose money and behind closed doors, if they open up the stadium they lose money to play the game,” Wenger told BeIN Sports
“It is absolutely where football has to rethink, how we can help these clubs to survive We need an elite but we need a basis that young players have a chance to play and where we have to get these people to survive.”
The financial picture for the entire football world post the coronavirus is a little murky although reports have indicated that many clubs, including the elite sides, will be affected. Not only that, it will see clubs operate in a diminished transfer market with player values dropping over the last few months. However, that hasn't stopped clubs from asking for over a £100 million for certain players but Wenger confirmed that football will lose 20% of its income across the world.
“We calculated that overall football will lose 20% of income, football let’s say can make £45 billion ($57bn) in turnover in the world. The loss will be £10-14 billion that is approximately the amount that football will lose. That means that if you look at the wage structure in most clubs it is between 60-80% of turnover. So that means only the player's wages can sort that problem out. I would say that it has made the weak clubs weaker and the strong clubs stronger,” he added.
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