Politicians, former players and football fans have slammed Premier League clubs for failing to reduce the wages of their multi-millionaire players before using the government’s furlough scheme for their non-playing staff.
While the programme sellers and stewards are taking 20 per cent wage cuts and being bailed out by the government, top stars are still earning hundreds of thousands a week, and have been urged by the PFA to not accept cuts to their pay.
All this has left a sour taste in the mouths of football fans and even ex-players, who have urged players to do the right thing and end the PR disaster they find themselves embroiled in.
No Premier League players have yet agreed to wage cuts amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis
While clubs furlough their non-playing staff, players are still taking home thousands a week
One fan argues that football is ‘cutting its own throat right now’ with the stance they’ve taken
Leading figures from the world of politics have also weighed in on the debate, with Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Media and Sport committee, stating: ‘It sticks in the throat.
‘This exposes the crazy economics in English football and the moral vacuum at its centre.’
MP for Tottenham David Lammy took to Twitter on Thursday morning and said: ‘It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals. And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidise cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead.
Harry Redknapp, former Tottenham and Portsmouth manager, told the BBC: ‘I’m a bit disappointed they’ve used that scheme to keep workers on. These people are so important to every football club, the club shouldn’t be taking the government’s money to be paying them.
‘The players need to have a meeting among themselves and from their heart, say “I think it would be a good idea, let us take a wage cut, not deferred wages, we can afford to take a cut, whether its five, 10 per cent, but do it from the heart.”
‘When the government brought this scheme out I thought it was for businesses who couldn’t afford to keep workers on, I didn’t think it was for the use of top Premier League clubs.’
MailOnline columnist and football fan Piers Morgan summed up the thoughts of the nation when he told Sportsmail: ‘It is outrageous for any football club right now to cut salaries of club staff but not the extravagantly paid players too.’
Gordon Taylor has gone as far as to tell players to actively refuse plans to cut their wages
There is no football being played but footballers across the league are still earning big bucks
Jamie Fox thinks players can still turn the current PR disaster-class into something positive
Fans too have made their feelings abundantly clear, taking to Twitter to share their increasing anger on the situation football finds itself in.
One wrote: ‘Massive PR opportunity for the first high-profile Premier League footballer who comes out and asks their club for a pay cut, so the non-playing staff can continue to be paid. Even better if a captain got the entire team to agree to it.’
Elsewhere, meanwhile, some fans believe football may struggle to recover from the position it has put itself in.
‘At this rate when things go back to normal, the stadiums will still be empty as the public give up or boycott their support for players & refuse to keep lining billionaires pockets,’ one said.
Taylor, who earns over £2million a year at the PFA, says he would block proposed wage cuts
Daniel Levy has seen his pay increase while placing Spurs’ 550 non-playing staff on furlough
Some fans think attendances could be on the decline after football showed its true colours
Another football fan noted: ‘Football is cutting its own throat right now. If they carry on with this greedy stance attendances will plummet when football finally resumes.’
As it stands, no Premier League players have cut their wages amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which has already seen 2,352 deaths in the United Kingdom.
Gordon Taylor, the £2million-a-year chief executive of the PFA, has urged players to not agree to wage cuts or deferrals, with the Premier League set for a crunch meeting on Friday to decide their next move.
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, never one to hold back with his strong opinions, also spoke on the subject during his talkSPORT show earlier this week.
‘I think it is an awful look for football,’ he began, ‘and I think it’s awful Premier League footballers are being paid £250,000 to £500,000-a-week and the government is having to support Premier League clubs.
MailOnline columnist Piers Morgan has joined calls for Premier League players to take cuts
NHS staff are struggling to cope while footballers continue to take home 100% of their wages
‘I’m sat here saying: Come on football, you can’t sit there and have every footballer in the Premier League on an average £70,000-a-week and seriously say “let’s not cut the players’ wages first before we go to the government to fund our own staff”.
‘Come on! There is a moral obligation here – there has to be. Football has GOT to take a pay cut!’
Elsewhere Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live and insisted that top-flight players need to ‘carry the burden’.
‘My view is always that those who are the least well off should get the most help,’ he said.
‘Highly paid football players are people who can carry the greatest burden and they should be the first one to, with respect, sacrifice their salary, rather than the person selling the programme or the person who does catering or the person who probably doesn’t get anywhere near the salary some of the Premier League footballers get.
‘It should be those with the broadest shoulders who go first because they can carry the greatest burden and have probably got savings, rather than those who were in catering or hospitality who have probably got no savings and live week by week and who probably won’t get the [government] benefits for five weeks.’
YouGov survey finds 92 per cent of British people think Premier League players should take pay cuts during coronavirus pandemic as pressure mounts on clubs to reduce salaries
A staggering 92 per cent of British people think Premier League players should take a pay cut during the coronavirus crisis, according to a new YouGov Sport survey.
Clubs are currently weighing up the financial costs of the Covid-19 outbreak with all English football suspended indefinitely as the global crisis escalates. The PFA – the players’ union – met with the Football League, the Premier League and the League Managers’ Association on Wednesday to discuss financial implications.
Many Premier League stars earn well in excess of £100,000 a week, but have not yet been asked to take pay cuts or deferrals, while the non-playing staff members at clubs are being furloughed and taking home 20 per cent less themselves.
A YouGov survey has found 92 per cent of British people want top flight stars to take pay cuts
Premier League stars are still on full pay despite English football being on complete lockdown
Norwich, Newcastle and Tottenham have all already placed staff on furlough in a bid to ease some of the pressure on their financial situation.
When an employee is placed on furlough they are temporarily put on a leave of absence and not paid, although they remain on the payroll, meaning that they do not lose their job.
This could be because there is no work for these employees, or that the company is not able to afford to pay them, because of the effects of the coronavirus crisis.
In the United Kingdom, the Government is offering to pay 80 per cent of a furloughed employee’s wages, up to £2,500 per month, until they are able to resume their job full time. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will last for at least three months from March 1.
But new YouGov Sport research reveals that the majority (92 per cent) of British people think top flight players should be prepared to take a pay cut. 2,154 British adults were surveyed on March 31.
92 per cent of participants called for Premier League stars to reduce their salaries
Two-thirds believe that any cut should represent 50 per cent or more of footballers’ salaries
Two-thirds (67 per cent) of British people who think players should reduce their pay believe that any cut should represent 50 per cent or more of footballers’ salaries.
In addition, nine per cent of those polled believe that Premier League players should be prepared to accept a 100 per cent reduction in salary for the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak.
It comes after Barcelona players agreed earlier this week to sacrifice 70 per cent of their wages while German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have also taken 20 per cent pay cuts.
In Italy, meanwhile, Juventus players have waived four months’ wages in a move that could see Cristiano Ronaldo give up over £9m of his money to help the cause.
The Premier League’s 20 clubs will hold another conference call with top-flight executives on Friday related to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.