Emiliano Sala tragedy will unite us in grief and leave Cardiff and football with a huge emotional loss
It is so sad what has happened to such a talented young man with the world at his feet
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THE TRAGIC disappearance of Emiliano Sala after a light aircraft crash will leave Cardiff and football with a huge emotional loss.
It’s so sad what has happened to such a talented young man with the world at his feet.
The other 19 Premier League clubs will have every sympathy with the Argentinian’s family, friends and the Welsh club.
And I am told many clubs have been calling the Premier League, each other and the PFA to check insurance cover when players book their own flights.
Sala decided to return to his new headquarters in a single engine Piper PA-46, apparently refusing Cardiff’s offer of a commercial flight.
In a poignant post from the plane, he said he was worried it sounded as if it was falling apart.
Subsequently, the search in the sea around Guernsey for Sala and for his pilot Dave Ibbotson has been called off.
Most club chairmen, including mine, regard single-engine flights risky and would surely have strongly advised Sala not to travel in the Piper.
Our club’s flights are in a 45-seater and even this transport unsettles a few players.
This may be surprising in men who withstand the most withering tackles without a qualm but flying is not everyone’s cup of tea.
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There is a terrible history of team crashes and of course the recent deaths of Thai chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, pilot and passengers in a helicopter beside Leicester’s King Power Stadium.
At 0.07 deaths per one billion passenger miles, it must be said flying is far and away the safest mode of travel. With motor cycling, for example, it jumps to 212.57 deaths.
Players are not encouraged to ride in any circumstances, yet one or two do.
My advice is never to read details or you might well decide, like Dennis Bergkamp the non-flying Dutchman of Arsenal, to stay at home or travel by train.
But it is not really an option for players who wish for an international career nor for ambitious clubs who need to play in Europe and on other continents in the summer.
So what can Cardiff and Sala’s family expect of insurance cover, beside his own?
The Premier League and players’ union are looking into what is bound to be a complicated problem.
If Sala’s transfer has been registered with the Premier League, his family will be entitled to a 4x salary union benefit, up to a cap of £600,000.
The Cardiff case is even more knotty because of the proximity of Sala’s signing to his death.
The PL may make exceptions but their current payment will almost certainly be under £1million, perhaps nothing at all.
Neither would his new club receive a penny under their catastrophe cover, should they have it.
In insurance terms, it needs three players’ deaths to amount to a catastrophe. In boss Neil Warnock’s terms one is more than enough to qualify. The search continues and we all pray for a miracle.