ENGLISH FOOTBALL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 194, 15 August 1936, Page 4

ENGLISH FOOTBALL

CLUBS’ FINANCIAL WORRIES I WHERE THE MONEY GOES ' I A BIG EXPENSE COLUMN I A successful league club like Arsenal, which can rely upon a gate of 1 forty to fifty thousand, has few worries; a club with ambition, which can only count on a thirty thousand gate, is often “hard-up.” "Only thirty thousand!” exclaims 1 the man who pays his shilling. “Why, that means one thousand five hundred | pounds, or a thousand pounds an < : hour! What, in heaven’s name, can I ■ they do with the money?” •*l’ll show you,” writes a “Tit-Bits” 1 man. I { The rental of a good ground, irre- 1 gpcctivc of stands, barriers, pavilions, and other buildings, will amount to < 11500 per annum, to which must be i added general district and water 1 rates, the first item swallowing up £676. and the second £llO. Then quite 1 a large sum is spent upon upkeep of < the ground and its surroundings, such < as repairs and renewals of terracing, 1 crush barriers, painting, and so on. J Last season this called for the expen- i diture of £1250 at the enclosure of t the club whose books I have just been privileged to inspect. < What Footballers Cost P 1 wonder if the man in the crowd ( who shouts instructions and, some- 1 times, epithets at the players, remem- | 1 bers, at the moment, what footballers 5 cost. Only five years ago Chelsea 1 paid, approximately, £25,000 for the • transfer of three Scottish International players, and Arsenal secured * David Jack, Alex James, and James 1 Dunne at a total cost of over £27,000. 1 Putting the average cost of securing 1 transfers at the low estimate of ‘ £3OOO a year, the club with an aver- ‘ age gate of thiry thousand is running ; great risks. Then, apart from trans- 1 fees, first-class clubs would not think 1 «>f embarking on a season’s campaign ' with fewer than thirty players, and 1 lhese will cost at least £12,000. That shilling of yours begins to look ! small, doesn’t it? And my informa- ! * lion comes from the books and man- I ■ agement of a great club you all know. ' And here are other things that go to 1 sv.allow up jour “bob.” A certain league club pays its J manager £ISOO a year. The manager of “our” club draws £BOO, but we ' must not omit the £SOO salary of the secretary, or the £250 his assistant draws. A carpenter and t\\ o labourers cost ■ £498, and half-a-dozen men constantly J employed on the turf, cleaning the ’ stands, and doing a thousand-and-one ; jobs, earn just over £BOO. I wonder if you appreciate the work 1 and skill of a club trainer? Some ‘ spectators imagine he draws a salary 1 for superintending sprints, skipping. 1 ami a few other exercises, his chief ( cuty being to run on to the field when • a player gets hurt and to place the 1 neck of a mysterious bottle to his The present-day trainer is skilled in I ’ all the branches of electric treatment, ' his sanctum resembles the operating 5 theatre of a hospital, and he never ( enlists the aid of doctors unless a case 1 is dangerous. The trainer and his assistant at i ' ■our” club cost £7OO a year, while • * these two spend a further sum of £l4O 1 in embrocation, medicine, cotton-wool. J plaster, bandages, knee caps, and so j on. Medical and surgical fees paid to I 1 doctor 5 :, hospitals, masseurs, and bone- i setters last vear were £173. • 1 One-sided Bargain Railway ami other travelling : charges run away with a lot of ; money, especially in the case of south- ; ern clubs who play, say. in London . on one Saturday, and in the Midlands ' or North of England on the follow-; ing week-end. As long journeys taken ■ immediately before n match are not | j conducive to good play, these ex- j cursions are made on Friday and the ' i eturn trip on Sunday. It may be argued that it is just as hard for the northern club which has to travel i , south, but there are very few south- i ern teams in the first division, and as I am dealing with the expenses of a . 'Outhern team. 1 will quote its figures: £1350 for travelling expenses and £IB4O for hotel charges. A hand- I some figure. Few realise that money spent on I gear would make a comfortable in- i come for the average man. Last sea- ! son “our” club spent £550 on balls, • outfits for players, and repairs. Electric light, gas and fuel for Turn- I aces run into something like £200; i postage, telegrams, and telephones i about £175; advertising £250; printing and stationery £400; insurance stamps £200; and petty cash £2OO. For home games a staff of gatemen and stewards is needed. At “our" ! ground ninety of these men are em- ! ployed, each receiving 7s 6d; so apart j from the payments to those engaged i for “reserve" matches, gatemen re- j ceive £7OB 15s in one season. One hundred police are employed, I These are made up of seventy-live ' constables, twenty sergeant, and five! inspectors, the rate of payment, as j arranged by the Police Union, being i 9s for each constable. Ils for each ! sergeant, and 16s for each inspector ! —making a total expenditure on • police of £766 10s for twenty-one ! games. The home club pays 20 per cent, of I its gate money to the visiting team. | Last year one club, with an average gate of thirty thousand, paid £6300 to opponents, and received exactly < £2OOO less for away games. Then the Inland Revenue author!- i ties stepped forward and received a cheque for £12.000 in payment of entertainment tax. the Football League being a very bad second with a payment of £315. this being a charge of 1 per cent, levied on each club attached to the league, which includes

membership, and the Insurance of players and trainers under the Employers’ Liability Act. So the full total of money spent on running the First League club whose books I examined is roughly £42,554 a year. With 21 home matches with an average gate of 30,000 the income is £31,500 at a shilling per person, but a certain amount is taken at “reserve” matches and 1 have not included the extra cash from the stands. And Cupties may make all the difference.