Taking Stock: French footballers' strike over ‘supertax’ hilarious
Sometimes, the headline is all you need
THERE ARE FEW things in life that surprise us here at TS Towers. We’ve been around the block a bit, leaving us desensitised, cynical and jaded, like all true hacks.
But when word reached us that the two top French football leagues, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, are due to go on strike from 29 November until 2 December in protest against the government’s imposition of a ‘supertax’, we were initially perplexed, and later delighted.
Despite our enthusiasm for top, top European football, the mental image of Paris Saint-Germain players forming a picket line, standing around burning barrels outside the Stade de France rather tickled us. Particularly with the thought of PSG’s finest Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pictured) acting as an enforcer, while Monaco virtuoso Radamel Falcao watches on, wearing a smug grin.
The French clubs, however, don’t appear to share our delight, with president of the clubs’ union Jean-Pierre Louvel warning “the survival of French football is at stake”, with not a hint of hyperbole.
And, predictably, president François Hollande is rather unmoved, only speaking to note “a football club is treated like any other company”.
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