Brighton promise 1000 free tickets for NHS workers – and the rest of the Premier League don’t like it

Brighton and Hove Albion have led the way when it has come to football’s response to the coronavirus outbreak with their latest initiative being to give away 1,000 free tickets to NHS workers when the sport resumes.

The Albion made the announcement on Wednesday morning as part of a plan for football clubs across the country to release 100,000 tickets for NHS staff.

Brighton have pledged to give away 1,000 and then ‘hand the baton’ onto another club to do the same – the idea being that once 100 clubs across the Premier League, EFL, Scottish and Northern Irish football pledge to do the same, then the target would be met.

It’s a relatively simple gesture and one that would cost Premier League sides no more than £40,000 based on giving away 1,000 £40 tickets.

Given that Brighton’s 2018-19 accounts revealed that the Albion made £113 million from broadcast revenue, writing off £40,000 to say thank you to the NHS is a drop in the ocean of any top flight club’s finances.

Brighton ‘handed the baton’ onto Bournemouth, who themselves said they would give free tickets to 1,000 NHS staff. Two of the smaller clubs in the Premier League had committed to the idea, so surely those with bigger capacities in their stadiums and greater revenue streams would follow suit.

Except they haven’t. In fact, the Daily Telegraph reported that the 100,000 NHS tickets giveaway proposed by Brighton was being met by opposition by other Premier League clubs.

Jason Burt, the Telegraph’s chief football correspondent, wrote:

“Remarkably clubs appear to be reluctant to sign up to an initiative launched by Brighton and Hove Albion, who promised 1,000 tickets, and was immediately backed by Bournemouth who matched that figure for all key-workers.

It is felt, by some, that Brighton should not have acted unilaterally in announcing their plan even though they are only asking for 1,000 tickets to be committed by each club.”

Which is absolutely pathetic, if true. The rest of the Premier League is not impressed by Tony Bloom, Paul Barber and the Albion coming up with an idea and announcing it because it means that the 19 other clubs cannot share in the credit.

People are dying from coronavirus every day and NHS staff are putting their lives on the line to try and keep all of us safe and alive.

Rather than try and thank those NHS staff with free tickets, Premier League clubs are more concerned about who takes the plaudits for coming up with the plan according to the Telegraph.

It’s a whole new form of sportswashing. Everyone knows about how the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Qatar buy up football clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain.

They then cram them with the best players in the world to try and distract from the appalling human rights abuses that go on in the countries they rule.

Premier League clubs are now using the coronavirus crisis to improve their own images in a similar way. How else can they justify being opposed to giving away tickets for NHS staff because the plan hasn’t been announced as a scheme dreamt up by the whole league? Their club can’t bask in the generosity of it, so they aren’t interested.

Who cares who came up with the idea? Bournemouth certainly don’t, which is why they backed it almost instantly. Ipswich Town in League One have said they will provide “free tickets for as many NHS staff as we can.” League Two Grimsby Town pledged 50 tickets to health care professionals per league game for next season.

Giving away tickets to NHS staff is a significant outlay for clubs such as Ipswich and Grimsby, whose income is a fraction of that of Brighton and the rest of the clubs on the Premier League gravy train.

In 2017-18, Ipswich suffered an £8.4 million loss. Grimsby made a modest profit of £150,573 in 2018-19. Yet they are still committing to do the right thing. They don’t care who thought of it.

If those two can afford to give away tickets for NHS workers, why not the likes of City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal with their rich benefactors, endless wealth and massive stadiums?

Premier League clubs are dripping in cash. Each member willingly contributed £250,000 to multimillionaire Richard Scudamore as part of a £5 million golden handshake goodbye last season.

And yet if you believe what the Telegraph have reported, because they won’t get any publicity for coming up with the idea to give away tickets to NHS workers, they don’t want to take part in an idea that will cost them less than £50,000. It’s sad and pitiful.

Football’s response to coronavirus has received a fair amount of praise thus far. But this episode casts doubt on club’s motives – do they really care about what is going on, or are they just carrying out gestures for publicity?

Every Premier League club should be backing Brighton and Bournemouth in giving away 1,000 free tickets to NHS staff. It’s a small gesture for clubs to make but it could go a long way towards spreading joy among those working in hospitals up and down the country who are potentially sacrificing their lives for the rest of us.

Premier League clubs need to get their heads out their arses, stop throwing a tantrum because they aren’t getting any publicity for the initiative and support the United Kingdom’s real heroes.

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