GARY NEVILLE has called for the Premier League to give English football a £500million bailout to save the game from a coronavirus crunch carnage.
Gary Hoffman has been named as the top-flight’s new chairman later today, two years after Richard Scudamore stepped down.
Gary Neville hopes new Prem chairman Gary Hoffman will be able to galvanise the top flight
The 59-year-old has succeeded acting chair Claudia Arney and will work alongside Richard Masters, who was appointed chief executive in December.
And Neville wants the Prem to take out a loan to ensure the security of the whole game in this country in the midst of the current Covid-19 crisis.
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EFL and National League clubs and even the FA have been left reeling financially by the lockdown and suspension of football due to the pandemic.
Former England and Manchester United star Neville – now co-owner of League Two Salford – said: “I said four weeks ago the Premier League had an opportunity to do the right thing by propping the game up.
“I mentioned they should borrow £1million – it was a number I said flippantly – against future income sources.
“The future revenues of the Premier League are tens of billions of pounds – even more if they want to extend their TV contract.
“The idea of borrowing at this time £300-400m is more than an affordable number, doing a soft deal with a bank on a loan to give to the FA, EFL, players, the National League, whoever it is.
“I’ve gone from anger to despair to almost now pleading with somebody at the Premier League just to do the right thing for the game.
“Why? I am on calls with EFL 2 owners who are desperate and don’t know how to pay the next wage bill, and worried about their clubs going bust for the sake of a few million quid.
“National League chairmen need £10-15m for their 68 clubs to prop that level up.
“Then you have the FA which is going to potentially fall over with loads of money lost on their revenue streams.
“It is an amount the Premier League can deal with.
“Once the Premier League do that and do the right thing they can then be seen as the organisation they should be seen as – a fantastic organisation and the biggest exporter of any English product in the world. Everybody loves it.
“We need for people to fall in love with it again, they need to look after football and obviously their own clubs.”
Neville hopes banker and Coventry fan Hoffman will be able to galvanise the Prem and show consideration to the rest of English football at this troubled time.
Speaking on Sky Sports The Football Show, Neville said: “I feel positive he’s a banker and will have a banking mentality – and that he has an experience of seeing a team struggle.
“I am hoping the new chairman can essentially look at the £10b coming in over the next few years, borrow five per cent of that, pay it back over five years like a mortgage.
“It’s a very affordable number for the Premier League to pay back. It works out £5-10m less a year on the prize money for clubs – it’s next to nothing. It’s a simple deal to do.
“I know they are talking about issues with their TV contracts in the short-term but I believe they have good broadcast partners who will do a very good deal with them.
“They could just do the right thing to reassure the game it is looking after them.
“I am talking about the Premier League putting on their books something palatable that can be paid back over a four or five-year period, which would give the EFL, the PFA, National League clubs and the Premier League clubs themselves comfort that they can get through this next 12-18 months and come out the other side.
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“It’s a social approach which you have to have at times like this. It’s not about the 20 Premier League clubs, it’s about the game as a whole.
“The Premier League are the only ones who can stop this from becoming a carnage economically.
“My view is it is something that should be done very quickly by the Premier League clubs. They can do it if they want to do it.”
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