“Mr. Areczek…”, or Legia like a classic januszex

You probably associate this series of memes with a mustache, chubby gentleman who throws texts to rank-and-file employees like “Mr Areczek, Lipton coffee is for the board, half a Saga bag for you.” A classic of Polish Januszex, where a regular employee is treated as a piece of furniture that can be replaced with a finite number of students on an internship. Something tells us that the famous meme director may soon be replaced by Dariusz Mioduski, and Legia Warszawa will begin to be considered a typical Januszex.

Not so long ago, Mateusz Borek from the Sports Channel reported that young Legia footballers who are located in the dormitory of the club’s academy are to pay extra PLN 500 a month for lunches. Radosław Mozyrko admitted in legia.net: – As far as I know, it’s probably about food, but I don’t know exactly why it was introduced, so I don’t want to comment on it. It would be best to call Marek Śledź, director of the academy.

Even then, a light went on in our heads that it was a really interesting approach, but we decided that it was not a topic to heat up yet. But from today’s reports, a really uninteresting picture of the functioning of the Legia emerges.

Well, at the beginning of this year, one of Legia’s players suffered an injury during training. And so serious – she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right leg. The costs of surgery and rehabilitation amount to about PLN 25,000. Let us note that the Legia Ladies player did not suffer an injury while going down the stairs, on a walk or at the ice rink during the weekend skating, but during the team’s training.

What does it look like on a normal, professional level of playing sports? We are not talking about an A-class club, where an injured footballer is just waiting for an operation on the National Health Fund and he may return to the game, or maybe he will wait until he is eligible for the oldboys’ games. Well, on a professional level – and this is probably what Legia aspires to – the case is reported to the insurer, the operation is carried out in a clinic associated with the club and after the operation, the patient is sent to a physiotherapist for rehabilitation.

Unfortunately, apparently one of these points in Legia does not work, because the girl had to set up a fundraiser on zrzutka.pl. Over 13,000 was collected quite quickly, but the fundraiser was deactivated. We assume that someone in Legia lit a warning light – oh, we’re putting ourselves at risk again, let’s make a deal with the girl, there’s no need to spoil PR for 25,000, you can still arrange it. At least we hope that since the milk has already been spilled, at least – ineptly and post factum, but still – someone in Legia came to their senses.

However, the case with the money for meals and the case of the football player show how Legia works. We look at Deloitte reports, we listen to Mr. Mioduski and his clappers – everything looks beautiful, high revenues, still top of the league. And then it comes down to it and there’s no lunch for the kids raised by the club or surgery for a soccer player.

What’s next? Players from the reserves are supposed to refuel the club bus during trips? The broth is supposed to collect the clothes of colleagues after training and take them to the laundry? Runjaic going to Decathlon for balls? The basketball section will make donations for renting a hall?

Later we remember that the third goalkeeper of Legia’s first team earns over PLN 100,000 a month and we begin to see the image of a company in which some departments are overinvested, and in some there is no money for such elementary things as insurance or sensible medical care. However, this does not prevent Mr. Mioduski from grinning at the camera while posing for photos with the Legia Ladies team.

We know that women’s football is not yet at the same financial level as men’s football. With a pitying smile, we listen to voices like “footballers should earn as much as footballers”. However, if you are already co-creating Legia Ladies, giving them the club’s crest, allowing them to be branded with the name “Legia”, then make every effort to make it look serious.

And in this case it looks like a very Januszeria style of management. So first of all, no real insurance. Then – dealing with the employee’s affairs only after something bad happens. And knowing the mechanisms, Legia will soon issue a statement in which it will sprinkle the head with a drink and admit that it is not appropriate, it cannot be like this. And let’s just not end with words – let these football players know that if they sprain their ankle while playing for Legia, they won’t have to google “home remedies for swelling”.

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