Premier League players led by the likes of Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire, Kevin De Bruyne, Mark Noble and Cesar Azpilicueta will agree to radical wage deferrals but want more control on how the money is spent, insisting that it goes to the NHS and supports the lower league football pyramid.
Managers such as Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined the above players and Premier League executives on a video conference call, as footballers placed the ball firmly back in the court of the Premier League clubs, who courted bad publicity with the news that Liverpool are taking Government money to place staff on furlough leave.
In what amounts to the most radical and coherent intervention by players for decades, a statement, which players had been heavily involved in, was released by the Professional Footballers’ Association. The key points were:
- Players wanted to help out clubs especially if a re-start to the Premier League stretches beyond June
- But they pointed out the proposed 30 per cut suggested by Premier League would cost the taxpayer £200million
- It is understood players would prefer to defer wages as that would mean the taxpayer would still get that money but clubs would be helped with cashflow
- Players questioned whether Health Secretary Matt Hancock fully understood the issues of how much tax would be lost when he called on wage cut for Premier League stars
And the statement insisted that any wage deferrals Premier League stars will agree to will be dependent on:
- The Premier League increasing their £20m contribution to the NHS
- Chairmen such as Tottenham’s Daniel Levy, who is using the Government furlough scheme to put several non-playing staff on 80 per cent wages, paying staff in full;
- The Premier League’s £125m advance to Football League clubs made yesterday being topped up with hard cash to support the football pyramid
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