The British government on Thursday said English Premier League footballers should take a pay cut, amid outrage at top flight clubs using a furlough scheme for non-playing staff.
Tottenham,
Newcastle and Norwich have said they will use a government scheme to guarantee
80 percent of salaries for staff up to a maximum of £2,500 ($3,100, 2,850
euros) per month.
The decision
prompted anger from the head of parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport
committee, Julian Knight, as no cuts have so far been agreed for high-earning
players.
Asked whether it
was ethical for clubs to put non-playing staff on the furlough scheme, Health
Secretary Matt Hancock said everyone needed to play a part in the fightback
against coronavirus.
“That means Premier
League footballers too,” he told a news conference in Downing Street.
“Given the
sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the
NHS who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice of going into work, and have caught the
disease and have sadly died, I think the first thing Premier League footballers
can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part,” he added.
Knight has written
to the Premier League to express what he said was his “dismay” and warned that “this
two-tier system is morally wrong”.
“The purpose of the
Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme is not to support the economics of Premier
League clubs”.
He has proposed “financial
redress” so the government recoups a proportion of the money clubs pay to the
players if there is no change of approach.
