Brescia President Massimo Cellino has started to calculate the accounts at risk and offered his solutions to save Serie A.
The uncertainties around the world of football has started to worry the Brescia patron and he has claimed that the solution will be for the government to help football limit the damage caused by the current Coronavirus crisis.
Brescia President Massimo Cellino has started to calculate the accounts at risk and offered his solutions to save Serie A.
The uncertainties around the world of football has started to worry the Brescia patron and he has claimed that the solution will be for the government to help football limit the damage caused by the current Coronavirus crisis.
“The government should discount the contributions on players’ salaries,” he told La Repubblica. “For the state, it would be a loss of €150m. But isn’t it worse if Italian football falls, since it’s now the third largest business in the country?
“In the brightest of forecasts, the championship could start again behind closed doors the first week in May and we would be able to limit the damage.
“We could give the players 25 days of holiday and bring them back on April 15. At that point the holidays would have already taken place and the campaign could end between May and June. But if it gets worse than we think, we lose five months of the campaign.
The Rondinelle patron has claimed that the hypothesis suggesting a playoff in the summer is “outdated” already, saying that it’s inevitable that Euro 2020 will be postponed.
“I think it’s an idea of the FIGC President [Gabriele] Gravina, probably linked to the need to the save the European Championship,” he added. “But that’s now an outdated hypothesis.
“The European Championship will certainly be pushed. How can you continue if the players don’t play for their clubs?”
He has suggested a new law to extend the expiring contracts, to "protect everyone" from the ongoing emergency.
“Dicounts must be given to the TV broadcasters who have yet to pay a share of the rights,” he said. “And then you ask the state for an intervention on the personal income tax in order to give the net salaries to the players.
“Then a law would be needed to extend all one-year contracts, to protect everyone. If we don’t do this, the damage will almost be more serious than the virus.
“The governing bodies of football must deal with it. Prime Minister [Giuseppe] Conte is facing a difficult period, we can’t wait for him.”