Clarke: Everyone must share pain to save the game
EVERYONE must “step up and share the pain” inflicted on football by the coronavirus pandemic, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has said.
Clarke’s comments come as talks continue between Premier League and English Football League clubs and the players’ union the Professional Footballers’ Association over player wage deferrals and cuts.
The FA announced on Monday that its top earners were taking a 30 per cent pay cut, with other members of senior management taking a 15 per cent cut.
Clarke told the FA Council yesterday: “Football faces economic challenges beyond the wildest imagination of those who run it.
“The pandemic will be followed by its economic consequences and all business sectors will suffer.
“We face the danger of losing clubs and leagues as finances collapse. Many communities could lose the clubs at their heart with little chance of resurrection.
“In the face of this unprecedented adversity, all the stakeholders within the game from players, fans, clubs, owners and administrators need to step up and share the pain to keep the game alive.”
Premier League clubs agreed last Friday that it would consult with players over conditional reductions and deferrals up to 30 per cent to offset the potential and actual losses caused by the pandemic. The EFL is also negotiating with the PFA for what is understood to be an even higher percentage of deferral. The PFA wants each club’s need to make the savings to be assessed on an individual basis.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor says Premier League players have “agreed to play their part” in helping clubs manage the financial fallout. Taylor added that players are “responsible enough” to know wages are a major factor in any club’s expenditure.
“We’ve been consistent with what we’ve said from the beginning.
“They’re not selfemployed, they make massive contributions to the Treasury and they’ve also quite logically felt that if they don’t get that money, if a third is deferred or a third is cut, then the Treasury is £200 million a year worse off and that could be going towards the national health and will be needed.”
And the pandemic could cost the Premier League “at least £1billion”, the competition’s chief executive Richard Masters has warned.
Masters said the cost could be considerably higher than that if the impact of the pandemic extends further into the future.
His comments on the state of top-flight football’s finances were laid out in a letter to Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.
Knight had called for a windfall tax to be imposed on Premier League clubs if they utilised the Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme to furlough nonplaying staff without negotiating a pay cut or deferral for players. Premier League clubs are in talks with players to take up to a 30 per cent cut made up of conditional reductions and deferral of salary.
Masters said: “We face a £1billion loss, at least, if we fail to complete season 2019-20, and further losses going forward if the seriousness of the pandemic deepens and extends into the future.”
Masters argued it was the right of Premier League clubs, such as Tottenham, Newcastle and Bournemouth, to utilise furloughing in the circumstances. Liverpool reversed their decision to furlough staff on Monday night after widespread criticism of the move.
We face the danger of losing clubs and leagues as finances collapse. Many communities could lose the clubs at their heart.