It’s all well and good to mock Portsmouth for not paying their players. After all, Pompey is one of the twenty clubs lucky enough to be in the top league in the world; their players should be compensated appropriately, and it’s completely ridiculous that it isn’t happening. It was ridiculous with Valencia last year, and also with Crystal Palace this year; you have to pay your players.
To their credit, though, the Portsmouth players (like the Palace and Los Che players before them) still played their matches. Chester City players seem to think that that’s where they went wrong.
Earlier today the Chester City players – who haven’t been paid in full for three months – decided that this was the absolute last straw; rather than go to Forest Green and play for free, they decided it made a lot more fiscal sense to stay home. Forest Green got word today at 5:11 PM GMT that Chester City players wouldn’t be showing up for this one, and the match has been called off, presumably with a 2-0 win to Forest Green.
It makes sense; if you’re in the Blue Square Premier, you’re not really making much money anyways, and you rely on that paycheck. Furthermore, Chester City started this season – their first in the Conference – with a 25 point deduction for financial improprieties, and will probably be relegated again…meaning another wage cut.
In other news, Chester City is for sale. For £1.
