City will not place any employees on furlough

Champions won’t follow in footsteps of Liverpool and Spurs

Manchester City have announced they will not be furloughing employees at the taxpayer’s expense.

On Saturday table-topping Liverpool became the fifth Premier League club to announce a furlough of non-playing staff, accessing the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme.

That means the public purse will cover 80% of affected wages, though there has been considerable criticism among those who believe the safety net was not being used as intended. The Reds announced a £42 million pre-tax profit in February.

Liverpool’s opponents in last year’s Champions League final, Tottenham, have also utilised the furlough option, along with Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth.

It was understood City’s stance was discussed, taken and approved at board level last week, with staff informed before Liverpool’s position became public.

A statement read: “We can confirm, following a decision by the chairman and board last week, that Manchester City will not be utilising the UK Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme (government funded furloughing).

“We remain determined to protect our people, their jobs and our business whilst at the same time doing what we can to support our wider community at this most challenging time for everybody.”

Liverpool, who are topping up the remaining 20% of salaries, came under criticism from some of their former players on Saturday, with Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann and Stan Collymore all unimpressed by their announcement.

Gary Lineker, speaking to BBC1’s flagship political programme The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, also appeared to question the clubs.

“The big clubs, you’d have thought, would have been savvy enough to perhaps try to help more of their workers when players are earning so much money,” he said.