[Albion] Premier League Players Together for the NHS

So this has all gone very quiet.

Delighted that some of the players have agreed to come together under this initiative. I say some, because it is quite hard to find an exhaustive list of who has signed up and who has not. A few days ago a list of players was pulled together by the media which featured players who had publicly supported Players Together via social media. BHAFC featured 5 players, one of which was Angus Gunn.

It's also hard to get a sense of how much the players have committed. The initial statement did not give much away:

https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/playerstogether/

However, at the time NHS Charities had hoped that this would put a dent in its £100m target which at the time stood at circa £30m.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...er-league-nhs-charity-donations-a9457576.html

To put all this into perspective, the Duke of Westminster has donated £10m alone and Captain Tom has raised £4m.

To date, the public appeal total stands at £26m
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fu...raiserPage?userUrl=ClapForOurCarers&pageUrl=2

However, finding details on what the stated aims and contributions is hard and vague and as Ben Mee states in The Guardian, "all the #PlayersTogether donations will be anonymous. There is no pressure on individuals to put money to this cause." That's fine, but let's remember that this industry only exists because of the local communities that support it. Footballers are not plying a trade whereby they offer essential services or services where there is fair competition so a case can be made for a bit more transparency.

This is all separate to the furlough arguments and NHS donations and the responsibilities of players as employees of their clubs should be seen as two different things. Modest salary sacrifices will help keep cash in their clubs that can protect other workers - workers who players should see as members of their team.

Last reports - by Brian Owen on April 9th - suggested that Barber was still in discussions with player's reps Glenn Murray and Lewis Dunk. The former is on the list of players to have said they are supporting #PlayersTogether. What's taking them so long to decide that they can support their fellow workers and keep cash in our club? After all, they are not working at the moment.

I am sure other players are doing things at this difficult time, but what? Players earn their livelihoods because they play for clubs supported by their communities. That's the deal. Part of that deal is greater scrutiny of their actions.

Hamilton said:

So this has all gone very quiet.

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It got off to an unfortunate start.

Pascal Gross was going to join Captain Tom for lap of his garden but he couldn't keep up.

Bry Nylon said:

It got off to an unfortunate start.

Pascal Gross was going to join Captain Tom for lap of his garden but he couldn't keep up.

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I hear Captain Tom offered to give him a piggy back

It is right that the players individual contributions should remain private, unless they choose to make them public.

If we assume that the players who posted the #playerstogether announcement letter on their social media, did go on to donate, then this did include just about every single Albion first team player (and a fair few more fringe players).

As an aside - whilst the Duke of Westminster’s hefty £10m donation is hugely welcome, it is worth noting that this represents just under 0.1% of his net worth, and can be comfortably plucked from the £250m inheritance tax he (or more accurately ‘his trust’) managed to avoid, when he inherited his title.

I'm sure one poster will be offended by this thread and the contents therein.

Hamilton said:

So this has all gone very quiet.

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Would be great if it stayed that way

hans kraay fan club said:

It is right that the players individual contributions should remain private, unless they choose to make them public.

If we assume that the players who posted the #playerstogether announcement letter on their social media, did go on to donate, then this did include just about every single Albion first team player (and a fair few more fringe players).

As an aside - whilst the Duke of Westminster’s hefty £10m donation is hugely welcome, it is worth noting that this represents just under 0.1% of his net worth, and can be comfortably plucked from the £250m inheritance tax he (or more accurately ‘his trust’) managed to avoid, when he inherited his title.

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Or to put it another way, you earn £1000 and donate £1!

I donated my winnings from the virtual Grand National to a local charity. The donations page revealed that an Albion player had recently chucked a few grand their way.

This player punchbag thing has got to stop. We don't know what they donate.

For my money, it's better to keep them on their current wages. The tax coffers take nearly 50% of their earnings.

It would be nice to think that they give money away after that. And I'm pretty sure they do.

Funny how Matt Hancock went for them and not any of his party's rich donors. Same for the opposition.

I've got to be honest, I couldn't care less how much they donate. It's not on footballers to fund the NHS, or any private citizen for that matter. Anyone who does donate, however rich or poor the giver, or however high or low the donation amount - Fair play, but it's none of my business.

I'm more interested in how the powers that be actually go about properly funding the NHS going forward. Right now, it's a PR piece to bang on about supporting the NHS in the short term but it's lack of funding (or wise investment) in non-crisis times that's led us here.

Tom Hark said:

Would be great if it stayed that way

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Why? I find it interesting that we're asking the most vulnerable in society take a wage hit but those that can afford it get the least scrutiny.

Crispin Odey has made millions out of this crisis and is deserving of scrutiny but gets none. Not my fault nor footballers but one wrong does not make another wrong right.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...n-Odey-cashed-2009-crash-hes-115m-crisis.html

Certain people make lots of money only because the rest of us exist. When a crisis hits scrutiny and accepting responsibility rises up the agenda - scrutiny is our responsibility at all levels.

Brighton Lines said:

Funny how Matt Hancock went for them and not any of his party's rich donors. Same for the opposition.

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To be fair to Matt Hancock, he was asked a direct question about footballers by a journalist and he chose to answer it. He should of course have followed it up with something along the lines of "all wealthy people should consider doing their bit to help".

Westdene Seagull said:

To be fair to Matt Hancock, he was asked a direct question about footballers by a journalist and he chose to answer it. He should of course have followed it up with something along the lines of "all wealthy people should consider doing their bit to help".

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Exactly this....if he'd simply have said 'PL footballers, along with all other very high earners........' the narrative (and possibly the outcome) might have been different. I think if the full facts were known a large % of players are doing something - and probably more than a lot of equivalent earners in other occupations. Players were also let down by the PFA dithering and its crap messaging.

Westdene Seagull said:

To be fair to Matt Hancock, he was asked a direct question about footballers by a journalist and he chose to answer it. He should of course have followed it up with something along the lines of "all wealthy people should consider doing their bit to help".

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Fair point.

So, I'd say the media message is the issue. The same media that make loads of money by reporting multi million pound contracts in such an excitable way.