The government’s controversial fiscal event has done little to help football - unless you are a top-earning player in the Premier League.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng ’s mini-budget has raised eyebrows across the world with the IMF outlining its fears and the Bank of England making an emergency intervention.
The only clear beneficiaries from the initiatives launched last Friday are those who earn more than £155,000 a year because they will now pay a lower rate of tax, falling to 40% from 45%.
And that is good news for any top-flight star, with calculations indicating the average Premier League player is set to benefit to the tune of almost £250,000 a season.
Top earners such as Cristiano Ronaldo stand to take home more than £1m extra every 12 months. The Portuguese is on £25.6m a year at Manchester United and on the previous rate he would have paid just under £12m in tax. But that figure will now shrink to £10.6m.
At Liverpool Mohamed Salah’s new deal is worth around £18.2m a year - meaning he will be deducted approximately £7.2m instead of £8.2m.
But several clubs, including United, are counting the cost of the currency crash that spawned from the Kwarteng-inflicted financial crisis.
As first explained by football finance expert Kieran Maguire, United have borrowed $650m from American banks and when the club published its quarterly accounts on the same day of the fiscal event it was displayed using the exchange rate from June, therefore equating to £530m.
Using the current exchange rate that figure is now an even more eye-watering £612.6m. With intense heat on the Glazer family’s continued ownership of the club, supporters will justifiably become more irate.
And further down the pyramid, where the cost of living crisis is hitting hard, the level of assistance forthcoming has been widely insufficient. That has led to a number of clubs exploring the possibility of moving games to 1pm in the afternoon to save on energy costs from turning on the floodlights for the second half of a 3pm kick off.
“The club is endeavouring to mitigate the forthcoming, considerable increase in energy bills,” Mansfield Town said last week. “Moreover, following the trial of this change in kick-off time, the club will be able to better determine whether an earlier kick-off on a Saturday would have an effect on prospective attendances.”
A recent survey by Fair Game, a coalition of clubs across the pyramid campaigning for a more equitable financial distribution of funds, found that 63% of 40 clubs – including 12 EFL teams – said they would consider earlier kick-offs to reduce bills.
Clubs are also concerned that as supporters’ disposable income shrinks ticket sales will fall. Niall Couper, Fair Game’s chief executive, told the Mirror: “Having survived the pandemic, the cost of living crisis could be the death knell for many clubs.”
