I don't understand this argument. When football clubs do well, do we hear stories about owners taking their extra profits and giving a share of them to the players? Why should players need to help owners cover their losses?
These people are buying football clubs as investments. There's a risk associated with any investment, and you need to be prepared to suffer the losses that come from this risk.
If these clubs were like AFC Wimbledon (fan-owned to the core) I would feel differently.
The Zhangs are billionaires. They have the money needed to cover their losses. This is simply a matter of them trying to place nice with the Chinese government. If they can't afford to handle the losses associated with the consequence of these actions, then they're simply not fit to own a football club.
Yes, let's let the club go bankrupt on a moral stance?
Irrespective of this argument, to be honest, look at what other clubs have done. RM, Barca on 2-3 year interest free loans from their players. Juve unilaterally deferred 3 months of salary. Roma doing the same.
A number of those clubs mentioned have owners far richer than our owners, without the chinese cashflow problems either.
There are plenty of clubs where players have taken sacrifices. Why do our players feel like they dont have to?
Fuck, there are plenty of BUSINESSES where people have had 20% pay cuts. The sheer arrogance of our team to put themselves above it tbh.
>50% of people in the UK have had their salaries reduced or been furloughed because of COVID. These footballers need to get their head out of their ass.
You guys realise that now we're probably going to have to sell a major player (or two) this window, and we'll have a net negative transfer window (let alone net 0)?
If COVID prevents us from selling season tickets, there's a real chance we'll have to sell 3-4 key players next season, just to cover debts. We have 250? million in bonds coming due in Dec 2022. We are NOT in a healthy state, and we've lost something like 200-250mil in 2 seasons. That's ignoring any potential impact on next season if we dont sell season tickets.
All because our players wont sacrifice 16% of their salary in an era when many people in the world are suffering.
I think it's undefendable personally. You talk about business risk as an owner? There's a non-zero chance Suning will have to let Inter fold, if cashflow doesnt return back to football and let us sell key players. We aren't in negative equity like Jiangsu were, but our valuation and equity will be plummeting QUICKLY now.