TAKE A CUT TO SAVE YOUR CLUB
Big Sam’s message to Prem stars
SAM ALLARDYCE has urged Premier League players and managers to follow the lead of Eddie Howe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by accepting pay cuts.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said on Tuesday that the decision had been taken to reduce the salaries of hundreds of behindthe-scenes staff by 20 per cent for April and May and utilise, where possible, the government’s furlough scheme.
That followed Newcastle’s decision to do likewise, while Norwich have also followed suit.
The move from Spurs sparked uproar, not least because their players – on tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds per week – are yet to take pay cuts themselves.
Levy strongly hinted that would have to be the case at all clubs and it will be high up on the agenda when the players’ union holds more talks with the Premier League and EFL tomorrow.
Bournemouth boss Howe yesterday became the first Premier League boss to take a voluntary pay cut.
But while the same has been happening at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, former Newcastle, West Ham, Bolton and England boss Allardyce cannot understand why bigname players here haven’t done the same.
He said: “Players should step forward and want to be contributing in terms of cutting their salaries. We’ve seen it from Juventus and Barcelona, places like that, and most of the Premier League players can afford to take a cut in their salaries and help the football club out.
“Every club across the board is like everybody else – if they have to keep paying salaries, they will struggle for cash flow and when you struggle for cash flow, you have to take action.
“So if I was a manager and the owners came to me and said, ‘Would you take a 30 or 40 per cent pay cut?,’ or whatever it was, I’d obviously say, ‘Yes,’ because it helps the football club.
“In these times, we all have to look out for the game. So the players and managers should be the first to take pay cuts before you go chopping somebody’s wages at a club who is on an insignificant amount by comparison.
“My life recently has been about saving clubs at the bottom of the Premier League.
“My actions there were to protect people who have worked at football clubs for a long time and would possibly lose their job if the club gets relegated. I actually point that out to players, saying, ‘People’s lives would be dramatically changed if you allow the club to be relegated and only we can stop the club being relegated if we all pull together for everybody.’ “In this case, they should be supported by the club and the players.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also took aim at the multi-millionaires in the Premier League yesterday.
“Highly-paid football players should be those who sacrifice their salary, rather than the person that doesn’t get anywhere near the salary that some footballers get,” he said.
“It should be those with the broader shoulders to go first because they can carry the greatest burden, rather than those who are in catering or hospitality who probably have no savings and live week by week.
“And they probably won’t get benefits for five weeks.”