Winter sports bailout

Quoted from Gaffer58

Think it was Sean Dyche of Burnley who said he hasn’t noted Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s etc being expected to bail out the corner shop, so why should Premiership clubs be expected to bail out lower down clubs.

Generally, I tend not to look to Sean Dyche for my incisive political, economic and social analysis.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I agree with some of the points above but the minister points out that football has enough money, and he's absolutely right! Football is awash with money but it's all concentrated in the Premier League.

If football as a whole could get a fairer distribution of the money in the game lower division clubs would be fine. And therein lies the problem. The article says that rugby will receive 135 million - Premier League clubs spent way more than that in the summer on buying players. I'll bet that Pep Guardiola's new contract would keep Town afloat for at least a couple of seasons.

Football as a whole does have enough money. It is just a question of distributing it amongst the have nots.  Now how does that happen if the haves aren’t prepared to give it up? If only there were some kind of sovereign body with the authority to make that happen.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Think it was Sean Dyche of Burnley who said he hasn’t noted Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s etc being expected to bail out the corner shop, so why should Premiership clubs be expected to bail out lower down clubs.

It’s even more stark than that. The equivalent of the Premier League clubs in retail terms would be Amazon. Foreign owned. Making massive amounts of money- exceeding the dreams of the old established British elite. Sucking the life out of homegrown retail.

Chalk and cheese really.  A poor analogy.

My corner shop is in direct competition with the Metro Tesco nearby.  

A corner shop will not change into a giant superstore. Or vice versa.  

A lower-league football club (and Championship clubs more so)  can climb the pyramid on merit to the Premier League.  Conversely, Prem clubs can be relegated.

This is the natural order for football.  Structured and formalised.

Top clubs just want to keep the money that they have - and will receive in the future.  They should be careful for what they wish for.  Look at Hull as just one example.  

But when all the American owners of premiership clubs veto relegation, as per USA sports, then those grubby little clubs from division 1 & 2 will never make the promised land.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

It’s even more stark than that. The equivalent of the Premier League clubs in retail terms would be Amazon. Foreign owned. Making massive amounts of money- exceeding the dreams of the old established British elite. Sucking the life out of homegrown retail.

This is a really interesting point and I'm going throw a grenade in here....the argument is often made that Amazon (and out of town retail giants) are sucking the life out of the high street but I can buy anything I want from Amazon and it arrives in good time (and as I work full time, quicker than if I went and bought the same item on the high street). For the same choice in the high street I would have to visit multiple shops and probably visit more than one high street. Add to that the costs of parking and the congestion and that most local high streets are sh*t holes and you can see why people prefer Amazon.

I'd also contend that the life was being sucked out of the high street long before the internet when every high street became exactly the same - I worked for some years as a sales rep visiting high streets and across the country you saw the same shops eg. Top Man, Burton, WH Smith, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins and so on.

And the car has had a hugely detrimental impact on high streets, many of them were given over to the cult of the car in the 70s and from that point on they became increasingly unpleasant for pedestrians.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Generally, I tend not to look to Sean Dyche for my incisive political, economic and social analysis.

I wouldn’t say that to his face. He’d rip out your larynx and use it as a cravat

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

This is a really interesting point and I'm going throw a grenade in here....the argument is often made that Amazon (and out of town retail giants) are sucking the life out of the high street but I can buy anything I want from Amazon and it arrives in good time (and as I work full time, quicker than if I went and bought the same item on the high street). For the same choice in the high street I would have to visit multiple shops and probably visit more than one high street. Add to that the costs of parking and the congestion and that most local high streets are sh*t holes and you can see why people prefer Amazon.

I'd also contend that the life was being sucked out of the high street long before the internet when every high street became exactly the same - I worked for some years as a sales rep visiting high streets and across the country you saw the same shops eg. Top Man, Burton, WH Smith, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins and so on.

And the car has had a hugely detrimental impact on high streets, many of them were given over to the cult of the car in the 70s and from that point on they became increasingly unpleasant for pedestrians.

At the risk of heading down an interesting side debate.....I agree the high street has slowly been going down for years, and online and Covid have accelerated it massively. But on line stores have massive tax advantages over bricks and mortar. And I agree they are much more convenient and cheap - I use them myself, following my own interests. But that’s the point of the analogy. The only people with a chance of doing anything to mitigate the decimation of the high street is government.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

At the risk of heading down an interesting side debate.....I agree the high street has slowly been going down for years, and online and Covid have accelerated it massively. But on line stores have massive tax advantages over bricks and mortar. And I agree they are much more convenient and cheap - I use them myself, following my own interests. But that’s the point of the analogy. The only people with a chance of doing anything to mitigate the decimation of the high street is government.

We're going there!

There are some positive signs and possibly a good story coming out of the pandemic. Some councils (Trafford in Manchester and a couple of London boroughs for example) have used the lockdown to pedestrianise roads in their areas (and make cycle friendly) so that they've become more accessible and friendly. It's been a huge success.
High rents in town centres have also pushed people out of living on high streets and made them retail only zones, so many 'die' after shops close. Some councils are encouraging the building of flats and the coversion of shops to accomodation to encourage people back into high streets. This also breathes life back into the shops and offers opportunities for cafes and restaurants etc.
Rents are a huge issue but with the number of companies going to the wall during the pandemic rents have to reduce and this will encourage smaller businesses who wouldn't have been able to open with the old rent structure.

BCT, I agree on Amazon and the High Street.

You could add “queuing in traffic on a Sat, queuing for the car park, finding a space, queuing in shops, maybe getting wet and most importantly, spending your valuable time and not finding what you want anyway”.

My wife orders Xmas presents from Amazon that she has researched in the comfort of home.  She will sometimes order at 2200 hours and the presents will arrive next day.  Often the next morning! The goods will be exactly as ordered and well-packaged.  (No security tags left on either, as sometimes happens in big stores).  The costs will be low as well.

If High Streets did not already exist, they would not be invented.  (I do shop at small businesses in town though to support them).