The Football Association (FA) announced it would cut 124 roles when chairman Greg Clarke warned of the “immense” effects of the corona virus, causing a £ 300 million black hole in the organization’s finances.
After a three-month hiatus due to the pandemic, competitive matches may have resumed in England, but the continued absence of fans has hit the nonprofit particularly hard.
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The FA Cup semi-finals will take place next month with the final on August 1st, but the three games will be played behind closed doors instead of attracting nearly 90,000 fans.
Wembley was scheduled to host two friendly matches against Italy and Denmark in March, several Euro 2020 games – including the final – and a series of concerts, including Westlife and Eagles.
As a result, the FA will cut 82 jobs, with a further 42 free rules “being removed” from the plan, as £ 4 million a year is to be saved over the next four years.
“The impact of COVID-19 on the FA was immense,” Clarke said. “We have lost games, competitions, revenue and crowds. The success that has been achieved through lost football games, lost pop concerts and lost NFL games is great.
“We have already lost this money and there is no way we can get it back. We need to save £ 75m a year and have a potential hole of £ 300m over the next four years, so we are facing this challenge.” We and our job is to move forward like the rest of the world and plan for this future. To do this, we need to return financial stability to the FA to ensure that we can fulfill our core role of football.
“We distribute all of our winnings because we are a non-profit organization. Every cent of the surplus goes to football in England, which means we don’t have a lot of reserves.
“So if there is a significant downturn caused by things like COVID-19, we have to respond and the suggestions are there to respond to the financial challenge caused by the pandemic. But we will continue to do so Prioritize growth of the soccer game for everyone. ” our stakeholders. “
Compensation due to canceled events has contributed to the association’s financial difficulties as the organization fears that the recovery will take several years.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Bullingham said: “We do not think it would be right to wait and see if the next few months bring more security.
“The reality we are facing is that no one knows the future, and I believe that the money we have already lost, combined with the uncertainty of the months ahead, means that we have to consider these proposals in order to to avoid that the situation deteriorates in time.
“If we go through this process now, as difficult as it is for all of us, it means that in our worst case scenarios we should still be able to overcome it and not have to repeat this exercise next year.
“The next few weeks will be very difficult for everyone at The FA. Our goal is to ensure that we are in the best possible shape and ready for better times in the future.”
In the meantime, the Premier League, the English Football League (EFL) and the professional football association have announced the launch of a new program to increase the number of black, Asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) switching to full-time coaching roles.
The program offers up to six coaches a season a 23-month intensive internship in EFL clubs. The first inclusion takes place at the beginning of the 2020-21 campaign.
“It is important that there are no barriers to access to the pipeline for employment in coaching,” said Richard Masters, CEO of the Premier League, in a statement. “We need more BAME coaches to create more opportunities in the entire professional game.”
“This new program was developed in collaboration and consultation with our colleagues from across the football field. We used what we learned from the implementation of the training program for elite Premier League coaches and used this experience to develop this framework.”
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