Sweet urges Premier League clubs to help out after EFL suspend campaign due to coronavirus

Town CEO calls on top flight teams to act now
Hatters CEO Gary SweetHatters CEO Gary Sweet
Hatters CEO Gary Sweet

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has called on Premier League clubs to share some for their £1.5billion cash reserves with clubs who are lower down the footballing period after the EFL opted to suspend the league season until early April this morning due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Town will have three games at least postponed in that time, including a home match with Preston North End this weekend, meaning like the rest of the teams up and down the country, they are set to lose vital revenue from this period of inactivity.

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With the top flight clubs having substantial resources at their disposal, Sweet urged them them to help out, as speaking to Talksport this morning, he 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.

“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.

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“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.”