Erik Petersen: Big Football's disdain for the taxman
GOOD news has arrived for anyone looking for a reason to hate Manchester United.
Granted, if you've reached the year 2012 without already having many good reasons to hate Manchester United, you have more than likely just arrived from one of those remote Pacific islands used primarily for nuclear testing or turtle husbandry (obviously, I exclude from this list those of you who actually are Man U fans since your "granddad came from there", or something).
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Concerns: Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.
Heck, I hate them and I don't even like football. I hate them because it is mathematically impossible in England to avoid them. They get everywhere. They're like an ex who doesn't get that it's over. They're like Friends reruns.
They also sell shirts from Uttoxeter to Ulaanbaatar, which helps to boost their already healthy income.
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Which makes this new reason to hate them all the more galling. According to the Independent on Sunday, last year, they paid no UK corporation tax. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nil.
And they're not alone.
The paper ran a story this weekend detailing how little tax gets paid by top English football clubs.
Some clubs such as Arsenal barely paid any while a handful, including Tottenham, Newcastle and that plucky northern family business, Manchester United, paid precisely bupkis.
The Sunday Indy noted that they all pay PAYE and other taxes, and that, like Starbucks or Google, they're breaking no British laws. You'll excuse me if I fail to alert the Nobel committee.
Like other clubs outside the Premiership gravitational pull, our local sides didn't warrant mention in the Sunday Indy story. That's fair enough, as lower-league English football is well documented as a place where owners do not have a license to print money.
Before we feel too comfortable on our high horse though, we should cast our thoughts back a couple years to when our little Notts County got served with a winding up order over tax discrepancies.
They came through all that, but it's worth remembering – smaller doesn't necessarily equal pure.
But still, given the choice between the little local guys who've occasionally made mistakes in a tough financial climate and a football GloboCorp dismissing the taxman the way Simon Cowell dismisses an off-key 19-year-old, I know which one I'll take.
So, um, who's with me?
After reading the Sunday Indy piece I hurried to that great barometer of unhinged rage, Twitter, to see if torches were being lit and pitchfork tips touched to check for sharpness. After witnessing several weeks of rage at the likes of Starbucks and Google, I figured the Great British Populace would be ready to storm the footballing barricades.
And that sound I heard? That would be the crickets chirping. A lonely wind. Hey look, tumbleweeds.
This won't do. If people have convictions when it comes to espressos or using Ask Jeeves instead of Google, they need to bring those same convictions to Saturday afternoon.
As in, don't support Man U when you could support Notts County just as you wouldn't caffeinate at Starbucks when you could go to Lee Rosy's.
Comments
by forestmadlad
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 3:31PM
“If you want this article to reach more Man Utd fans you should try to get it published in Sussex's local paper.”
by penniner
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 2:41PM
“SKY have ruined football. They portray the Premier League as the best in the world when it is 5th or 6th at best. Anyone that saw Arsenal and Manchester City last night and Chelsea against Juventus surely must be convinced by now that our top league is third rate rubbish and inferior to Spin Italy and Germany's equivalent. We are brainwashed by SKY that our Premier League is some amazing entertainment but it is kak and not a patch on the product it used to be in the 1990s. It is all about money and the same boring teams every season playing each other in the last 16 of the Champions League. The same 4 English teams qualify every year and it has become stale and boring.The only teams that stimulate me are the two Spanish giants and the legends of Messi and Ronaldo. In England I would rather watch the lower leagues and thoroughly enjoyed MK Dons v Wimbledon the other day. Real passion and proper football and a p[itch invasion. No sanitised rubbish you see in the Premier League.”
by penniner
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 2:32PM
“Since I was about 8 the only football club I genuinely hate are Manchester United. I hate their fans-especially those who live nowhere near Manchester and are glory hunters-their manager,the preferential treatment by referees and the FA and their commercial merchandise arm. I have no hatred of any other club and I even want them to lose when playing foreign teams.”
by NFFC1898
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 12:59PM
“The nearest most Manure supporters have been to old trafford is Coronation Street!”
by DunkirkPie
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 12:55PM
“I don't understand why people seem to be so surprised that companies will reduce their tax bill as much as they can.
You can't have a compulsory system of taxation and then expect people or business to pay more than they are compelled to out of the goodness of their hearts!
If the tax system is broken (which it seems to be) then MPs should change it rather than wasting public money on committees which try in vain to shame Starbucks etc. into paying more than they owe!”
by SlickSpoons
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 12:32PM
“Football is a rotting corpse that will decompose completely in a few short years. Mark my words.”
by ErikPetersen
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 12:15PM
“Formerly: Absolutely support those Sunday league and non-league clubs!
I agree also on the disconnect. It's a shame we can't have something more like the German Bundesliga, where there's a rule in place stating that clubs must be majority-owned by the fans. Big corporate investors can come in, but they can't have a controlling share.
I reckon a proposal like that would get laughed out of the room here.”
by FormerlyW
Tuesday, December 04 2012, 8:55PM
“There is this strange disconnect between the fans who think that "the club" exists essentially for their benefit, and the actual club, which in reality exists primarily to try and make money out of the fans, by, for example, arbitrarily changing the kit as often as they can get away with it.
Surely the answer if you actually like football is to go and watch (or even play for) your local Sunday league club: they aren't in it for the money, and they don't even sell replica kits.”
by ErikPetersen
Tuesday, December 04 2012, 8:43PM
“majoroak: Haha, love it! Maybe we should organise a Christmas charity special.”
by majoroak
Tuesday, December 04 2012, 5:55PM
“why dont we treat football clubs as charities for occasionally providing entertainment for the higher strata of our society who can afford to watch them??”