Rotherham match

[SBRed48]

The reason Sky and BT rolled out the 12.30 PM Saturday lunchtime kick off was for no other reason than tv audiences in the far East could watch a live PL match at primetime on a Saturday Evening over there .

That clearly doesn't work in league one or two , I think it's safe to say there aren't millions of Barnsley or Rotherham fans in Singapore .

It's mind boggling stuff it really is , you have to question the owners of the lower league club's mindset in agreeing to this deal .

As a very rough round figure it is an extra £0.7 million pa for five years on the new Sky deal and I would guess a loss of a bit more (£1mill ?) on the present £3 mill pa ST and Match Ticket income. Take out opportunities for merchandising, catering/ drink sales, commercial packages etc and you are looking at a financial loss every year on the deal at our level.

[animallittle3]

As a very rough round figure it is an extra £0.7 million pa for five years on the new Sky deal and I would guess a loss of a bit more (£1mill ?) on the present £3 mill pa ST and Match Ticket income. Take out opportunities for merchandising, catering/ drink sales, commercial packages etc and you are looking at a financial loss every year on the deal at our level.

It potentially gets worse for the future of lower league football .

The case of one Lassana Diara ex Chelsea , Arsenal and Portsmouth midfield player who has successfully sued FIFA in Europe's highest court , The European Court Of Justice .

The ramifications of this case could see the end of transfer fees paid to in contract club's players should they wish to leave that club .

This case is similar to the landmark case won by Jean Marc Bosman in 1994 where he successfully sued FIFA and lawyers proved that club's had broken European Labour laws .

This case has not had a huge amount of media coverage I suspect for very good reason .

Without incoming transfer fees it's difficult to see how club's such as ourselves can survive in the present football environment unless they possibly have to become semi professional outfits .