SVEN: REDUCE PAY... OR QUIT

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON has warned English footballers: Take the wage pain – or clubs will go under.

The former England boss has flagged up the possibility of bankruptcy sweeping the nation as the game battles Covid-19.

The Swede says that, while “everyone is a loser”, steps must be taken to ensure clubs recover from the storm.

Asked if the players should take pay cuts, he said: “We’re all having to pay something – life is not as it was – one way or another, we are all losers.

“In Sweden, I support a third division team, Torsby, and no sponsors’ money is coming in. The club has had to sack people.

“So players have to see their salaries go down and be clever. Where are you getting money if there is nothing from ticket sales and sponsorship?

“Clubs are now operating day-to-day – not month-to-month – so, if there’s no football, there will be no sponsors and the club cannot pay for a normal service.

“Everyone will have to lose something.

“At Torsby, the players have been very responsible, saying, ‘Of course, we have to think about our club. If we don’t help them, they will go bankrupt and that means no Third Division when the league starts up’. For them, it would mean beginning again, in the seventh tier. It’s good – but it’s common sense. A lot of clubs in Sweden have done the same.

“It’s very difficult to say what players in the Premier League should do. Big clubs playing in Europe probably have the money to pay.

“But even there, as well as the Championship and Leagues One and Two, if you do not receive money from tickets, sponsors and television, some of them will go bankrupt if they have to pay salaries as well.”

But Eriksson (below), 72 and still wanting to continue a career in management, says football will be used as a barometer to signal that life is returning to normal.

He said: “Of course I miss it, we all do. It will come back. If it happens in June or July, I don’t know. But I follow what different federations are saying and I have seen them saying, ‘We are going to try and finish the leagues and the cups, but we can’t do it at any cost to life’ – and that’s right.

“Finishing a league is important and beautiful, but you cannot risk that if you think people will lose their life.

“The best thing is to stay calm and wait because I think a lot of people are talking and guessing about things they don’t know.

“Of course, I hope football comes back as fast as it can because that will mean life’s gone back to normal too.”