The possibility of a £5M golden handshake for Richard Scudamore is proving divisive.GETTY IMAGES
A U.K. government minister who previously negotiated with Richard Scudamore over the Premier League's support for grassroots suggested the outgoing exec chair "should donate" his proposed £5M ($6.5M) "golden goodbye" to amateur football charities, according to Tom Morgan of the London TELEGRAPH. Former U.K. Minister for Sport Richard Caborn "praised Scudamore for making England's top tier the most lucrative in the world," but said that clubs "were right to question whether they should be spending" £250,000 ($325,000) each as a thank-you gift as the 59-year-old retires. Caborn: "I don't think Richard's on the breadline, let's put it that way." Chelsea Chair Bruce Buck "called on the 20 Premier League clubs to make a donation in a mark of gratitude" for Scudamore for landing record-breaking TV rights deals. Caborn said that he was "not surprised the proposed gift had gone down badly with supporters." He said, "It reflects where football and a lot of people are questioning whether the redistribution of a very successful league should be helping the grassroots. I don't take anything away from Richard's work, but there are people questioning whether such a successful organization should be doing more" (TELEGRAPH, 11/14). The BBC's Dafydd Pritchard reported Cardiff City said that it is happy to contribute £250,000 so that Scudamore can be given a £5M farewell gift. It is understood "five clubs oppose the idea," including Fulham. Cardiff City CEO Ken Choo said, "He [Scudamore] has done a great job. ... He has moved the Premier League on to another level, and he has allowed someone new [his successor, Susanna Dinnage] to take it further now" (BBC, 11/14).
'ANYTHING BUT APPROPRIATE': In London, Dominic King opined if Scudamore -- whose annual salary of £900,000 ($1.17B) could reach £2.5M ($3.25M) with bonuses -- has "any self-awareness, you would hope he has quietly spoken to Buck and told him to cancel the idea, as it was anything but appropriate." But, as yet, "we have not heard anything from Scudamore, so we cannot speculate as to what he thinks." For Buck to "even think this is acceptable smacks of someone being out of touch with reality." At a time when supporters all over the country "are struggling to make ends meet, it is an obscene idea and should have immediately been treated with derision" when it was put to the 19 other Premier League clubs (DAILY MAIL, 11/14).
'PR DISASTER': In London, Henry Winter opined the idea alone is "deeply damaging to the Premier League, a PR disaster, an embarrassing confirmation that money is all that matters to the big boys and their view that morality is for the little people." It is "the mill owners’ two fingers to the working man." It is the acceptance that clubs, "gorged on the TV riches that Scudamore helped to generate, have such sums just lying around, probably down the back of the Eames sofa in the boardroom." It is "the arrogance." Nobody with any understanding of the marketplace could really question Scudamore’s £900,000 salary plus bonus of £1.6M ($2.08M), given his "expertise in the lucrative broadcast-rights sphere," but this £5M extra is "simply gratuitous." So "get the owners to sign a card, commission a carriage clock in the shape of the Premier League trophy, crack open the Krug and wish Scudamore all the best for the future," and thanks for "all the memories and monies" (LONDON TIMES, 11/15).
