Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has said it’s a ‘matter of necessity’ that the Premier League digs into its £1.5billion coffers to help out clubs lower down the football pyramid who will be financially affected by the Coronavirus leagues suspension.
The EFL, Premier League and the Football Association announced this morning that all matches will be suspended with immediate effect until at least Friday April 3, as a response to the fast spreading disease.
It means Luton will miss out on the revenue from tomorrow’s Championship clash with Preston and also the away days to Swansea City and Leeds United, with the reality of these once-in-a-lifetime disruptions now starting to hit football clubs.
Asked by talkSPORT if the Premier League – as the richest league in the world – should reach out to help clubs in the Football League and beyond, Sweet said: “I think it’s a matter of necessity.
“If the football family exists, the football family needs to act now. There’s only one way that distribution can happen and that’s from the top to the bottom.”
Sweet also revealed that the club are today donating all their non-perishable food to foodbanks, to help out Luton’s local community, and added: “The situation in football is no different.
“The Premier League has a £1.5billion cash reserve. What is going to happen to that if they can’t help clubs lower down the pyramid.
“That isn’t just the Championship, League One, League Two, it might be further down where those communities with those clubs rely on those clubs for communication in these hard times, for social gathering in these hard times, even if it’s not by person.
“We create communities and we’ve got the opportunities in football clubs to create offline communities to even include that social distancing programme that the government is talking about, that were invoked here at the football club too, certainly within players and staff.
“We can retain those communities. We can keep people entertained.
“On behalf of, not so much Luton Town, but the clubs that are in need in the Football League and below, this is us going with a begging bowl and a dancing dog. “If football clubs die below the Premier League it will affect the Premier League far greater than their cash balance.”
