FIXTURES A NIGHTMARE FOR SUFFERING CEFERIN
of £42million less than two months ago and scooped a £100m prize pot from UEFA after winning the Champions League. That is at the heart of the matter.
Players are happy to dig deep but want their money to go to the right places and consider the Premier League itself and the PFA could be doing a lot more for the football family and clubs in their hour of need.
There is anger and frustration among some players about a lack of leadership and direction from the PFA, with 75-year-old Taylor now back on the front line, and it is understood senior players had to force the union into making strong public statements last Thursday and again on Saturday night.
The Premier League has imposed a 30 per cent limit on cuts and deferrals – clubs have already asked players to do more – and they feel pressurised into accepting it.
There was no concrete proposal from the clubs on Saturday’s conference call for the captains to take back for discussion – just a presentation.
They wanted something to give to the players to know where they are going.
But it is being left to captains to talk to their chief executives and chairmen individually.
The players signed off the Whatsapp group chat by insisting they all stand together with no one breaking rank.
Tellingly, they unanimously supported forming their own charity foundation with Henderson and Harry Maguire garnering overwhelming support from their team-mates, as has been the case up and down the country.
But they feel the issue of wage cuts and deferrals has been handled badly.
Some of the biggest names in English football are unhappy with a lack of leadership by the PFA and clubs trying to bully players into signing new deals.
This whole dispute has already turned ugly – and threatens to get even worse.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admits the strain of trying to organise football during the coronavirus crisis is starting to tell.
The Slovenian, a former lawyer, (above) aims to present the 55 member associations with a new
THE Premier League are at an advanced stage in talks with the Government over a return for football in June.
It is understood there is a tentative agreement for the top flight to resume behind closed doors. In principle, with Government health officials hopeful coronavirus will peak in the next few weeks, games will be sanctioned under strict guidelines.
At an emergency meeting on Friday, league officials also discussed extensive measures to keep the players in a sterile environment, limiting contact with the calendar for the rest of the season on May 18.
He said: “I’m having many sleepless nights. I wake up at 4am and can’t sleep any more.” But he added: “We are confident football can restart in the months to come.” wider public.
To ensure fans do not try to go to matches, there have been talks with TV companies to increase the number of games screened in June, with clubs hopeful some will be on terrestrial
TV. Sky and BT have rights to some of the remaining fixtures, but lack the capacity to broadcast them all, and discussions have centred on a free-to-air agreement to allow more to be shown.
Clubs were told at the meeting to start preparing for a possible resumption of the league in June, with players expected to ramp up training.