November 16 – Richard Scudamore , the departing Premier League executive chairman, will receive a £5m goodbye gift paid by Premier League club when he hands over the CEO’s reins at the league to incoming chief executive Suanna Dinnage in December.
The payment has been agreed by the 20 Premier League clubs who will each contribute £250,000, and will be paid over three year. Scudamore will continue to consult the organisation for that period.
Fan group have strongly opposed the payment, arguing that Scudamore’s reported £2.5 million a year annual salary has been adequate compensation for a job he is choosing to leave.
But club chairmen have been unanimously supportive of the payment to Scudamore who has overseen the Premier League for the past 19 years and in particular the growth of broadcast rights from £670 million to £5.14 billion.
“Premier League clubs have always told fan groups that budgets are planned in advance and there’s not a surplus of cash lying around from their extremely lucrative TV deal,” said the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF).
“In the meantime, loyal football supporters continue to be inconvenienced by fixture changes to fit TV schedules, often losing out on travel costs or struggling to get to and from games in the first place.
“Now it appears clubs can stick their hands down the back of the sofa and find £250,000 at a moment’s notice.”
With a renewed focus in England on decaying grassroots facilities and provision of opportunities for youth development, the golden goodbye comes at an awkward time for a league whose greed and apparent lack of social responsibility in its domestic market is coming under increased scrutiny.
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