QPR chief Lee Hoos and Simon Jordan in opposition over early Championship restart – ‘The momentum was irresistible! When did you think it would come back?’
Queens Park Rangers CEO Lee Hoos and former Crystal Palace chief Simon Jordan engaged in a lengthy discussion live on talkSPORT over the EFL’s plan to restart the Championship later this month.
The second tier of English football is scheduled to get back under way on June 20 – the same week the Premier League will return.
Hoos, QPR’s chief executive, believes the Championship is restarting too early
However, top-flight clubs have been back in training for a longer period than their second division counterparts, and there has been some opposition to the EFL’s decision.
Hoos is one such man to hit out at the plan to come back so early and claims his club, among others, were not consulted over the proposed return date.
The QPR chief executive wants to see the date pushed back by a week to mitigate the injury risk factor.
talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has been bullish in recent weeks in his criticism of the EFL and how they have handled the coronavirus pandemic.
Simon Jordan urges EFL to enforce a salary cap
And the ex-Palace owner and Hoos got into an in-depth discussion on Tuesday’s White and Sawyer show concerning the early return of the Championship.
Hoos made clear his opinion that the science is not being followed by the EFL in deciding to rush back football while Jordan argued that commercial interests would always be the driving factor in bringing sport back as soon as possible.
They did agree on one thing, however; the questionable quality of the leadership in the EFL.
Read the full exchange between the pair below:
Simon Jordan vs Lee Hoos on talkSPORT
Simon Jordan: “The Championship was always going to follow the Premier League. Of course, the Football League is a strange organisation, as you know, and the nature of some of the meetings and the construction that goes on is often a waste of time.
“But the momentum to get the league open and get the Championship clubs playing was irresistible.
“When did you think it would come back?
“My time in the Football League was one of ‘I’m crying out for leadership, crying for someone to take control and take clubs with them’.
“Always, forever and a day, 72 clubs arguing about puerile semantics and here we are now with football being brought back. You have clubs who are diametrically opposite to your view, Bristol City saying, ‘we are prepped and ready to go’. Why are you guys not ready to go?”
Lee Hoos: “It has changed since you’ve been in the Football League, Simon. There’s only 71 clubs at the moment!
“That was a joke. It hasn’t really changed.
“You are right. If we are following the Premier League you would expect us to come back on [June] 27.
“You’ve been around and you know there is no right and wrong answer in football; there are just different ways to get to the same result.
“Clubs don’t go out of business because they mis-order stationary, it’s because of players. [For QPR] it’s about controlling that playing budget, keeping it small and preventing preventable injuries. To have assets on the stands and not on the pitch is a total waste.
“That’s our view; other teams with a deeper squad are saying, ‘so what, we can keep throwing players at it’.
“The five substitutions idea is an excellent idea to mitigate the risk. The best way to mitigate that risk is to have one extra week training.
“I’ve spoken to our sports scientists and our players, not all of them, but they’ve said that extra week is massive.
“Some people will say, ‘they should have been doing individual programmes,’ which they have and we are very pleased with how they’ve come back.”
SJ: “You can listen to the science to certain point. With respect to scientists, they are not as accountable as commercial people in the real world.
“Lee, with the best will in the world, with the league commencing is the argument the usual one of vested interests and agendas that suit them does not suit another?
“I’ve seen Rick Parry be very vociferous and make very strong statements, not all I agree with, about parachute payments. On one hand this league is crying out for leadership, and on the other when it gets leadership there are people saying, ‘I don’t want that kind of leadership’.”
LH: “When you are talking about leadership you lead them, and you don’t tell them [leaders] what to do.”
SJ: “You’ve sat in those meetings, Lee, and for the love of God, some of those people need to be told what to do because they sit there pontificating forever and a day.
“If you are suggesting that no one has communicated this scenario, then you must have a theory why they’ve said June 20?”
LH: “This is the thing, I had no idea. It came out of thin air on Sunday night. There was no indication whatsoever.
“Following the same pattern as the Premier League we thought it would be the following week.
“Sports scientists are telling me that one week, just one week we are talking about Simon, makes a massive difference in terms of injury.”
SJ: “You guys get £4m a year from the TV deal, you’ve played 75 per cent of the season; is a big driving force behind this to claim that last million or avoid having it reclaimed?
LH: “I’m sure it is but that doesn’t explain the date though.
“Absolutely finish the season. If you spoke to 80 per cent of the Championship clubs, we want to finish the season, but it’s about finishing the season with minimal risk to the players. We can’t control it completely.”
QPR boss Mark Warburton was also critical of the June 20 restart plans and labelled them ‘ludicrous’ during an interview with talkSPORT on Monday.
“Everyone was staggered when the news was suddenly announced last night,” said Warburton. “There was little consultation.
“I know our CEO, who has been outstanding throughout this, had no idea. Our medical team had no idea nor did I.
“We told the players earlier on a Zoom call that we thought June 27 would be the earliest. Now they’re looking at a week earlier.
“We didn’t come back until a week after the Premier League and yet we’re starting in the same week. It’s ludicrous.”
No comments:
Post a Comment