Instead of cheap shots, give stars’ tax over to NHS

IT was always premature to throw Premier League players under a bus on the mistaken assumption they are all greedy.

For a couple of days it seemed to be open season on footballers in the top flight, where the average wage is £61,000 a week.

They were under fire, including from a UK government Health Secretary in Matt Hancock who can’t even organise mass testing for NHS staff to protect them, for not volunteering to take wage cuts.

Now it has emerged Premier League captains have held a meeting to discuss a uniform, charitable approach.

Manchester United players, at the suggestion of skipper Harry Maguire, have agreed to divert 30 per cent of wages into a fund for local hospitals and health services.

And top-flight clubs have agreed unanimously to consult their players about possible wage reductions or deferrals.

Of course nobody wants to see non-playing staff laid off or furloughed because cash flow has dried up completely.

And everybody applauds the example set by Barcelona where everyone – from Lionel Messi down – has taken a 70 per cent pay cut. The word is Messi and teammates drove that initiative. Now who’s selfish? My experience tells me WhatsApp messages would have been flying between players this week, asking how they can help to save jobs.

A lot of them have already set up their own charitable foundations. Man United striker Odion Ighalo, for example, built an orphanage in Nigeria.

Many do unseen work in their communities, like visiting sick children in hospitals, but don’t shout up, ‘Look at me, aren’t I generous?’ And I can assure you they do not want to see colleagues who are part of the fabric of the club laid off.

If people are pointing fingers at footballers and saying a chunk of their pay should help the NHS as a matter of course, ex-Stoke winger Jon Walters has a good idea.

A Premier League player earns on average £3million a year and 45 per cent of their wages goes straight to the Government in tax. Why doesn’t the Government simply redirect that cash straight to the NHS?

If there are 25 players named in each squad, it would be worth £700m a year. You could build a couple of hospitals.

As Walters asks, is that a better deal than players taking cuts and the cash staying with their clubs?

Instead of politicians getting on high horses, perhaps the government should make sure the game’s contribution to our tax revenues goes to where it is needed most in a national emergency.

There are some fat cats in big business whose companies are worth billions and yet they are asking for the taxpayer to help bail them out.

When there is a crisis and livelihoods are on the line, I have always been confident football will contribute its fair share towards the relief effort.