PFA 30% cut would harm NHS

PFA says Premier League 30% pay cut plans would harm NHS



PFA says Premier League 30% pay cut plans would harm NHS

By Dan Roan & Simon Stone BBC Sport




The Professional Footballers' Association says proposals for a 30% pay cut for Premier League players would be "detrimental to our NHS".

The PFA also called on the league to increase its own £20m charity pledge.

The government has said it is "concerned" by what it called "infighting".

The league wants players to take a 30% salary cut in order to "protect employment throughout the professional game", amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But the union says that equates to more than £500m in wage reductions over 12 months, and a loss in tax contributions of more than £200m to the UK government.

The union also questioned Health Secretary Matt Hancock's public criticism of footballers' salaries during a news conference on Thursday.

"What effect does this loss of earning to the government mean for the NHS?" the statement read. "Was this considered in the Premier League proposal and did the Health Secretary factor this in when asking players to take a salary cut?"

Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, tweeted: "Concerned about the turn football talks have taken... people do not want to see infighting in our national sport at a time of crisis.

"Football must play its part to show that the sport understands the pressures its lower paid staff, communities and fans face."

Liverpool furlough some non-playing staff
What is each Premier League club doing on pay?
The PFA said all Premier League players "will play their part in making significant financial contributions in these unprecedented times".

England manager Gareth Southgate is reported to have made such a gesture by agreeing a 30% pay cut, although the Football Association declined to confirm when asked by BBC Sport.

Top-flight professionals have been coming under increasing pressure to take a drop in pay, especially with five Premier League clubs - Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Norwich - now placing some non-playing staff on furlough leave under the Government's coronavirus job retention scheme.

However, clubs themselves are understood to have financial concerns, with Burnley saying on Saturday they faced a shortfall of £50m if the Premier League season was not completed.

Brighton chief executive Paul Barber, meanwhile, said the Premier League was not ignoring the plight of the general population during the coronavirus pandemic.

The PFA statement came hours after a conference call with the Premier League and the League Managers' Association (LMA), the managers' union, to discuss the wage cut plans.

Saturday's call, which featured a Premier League presentation of the wage cut plans to around 65 participants, was concluded in less than an hour with no agreement reached.

The Premier League is not mandated to make a decision on wage cuts, as it has to be agreed by the players and coaches. Clubs and players are now set to discuss the plan, with talks set to go into next week.

As part of the proposals, the Premier League would advance £125m to the English Football League (EFL) and National League, and give £20m towards the NHS.

The PFA says it is happy to continue talks with the Premier League, although it added: "£20m is welcome, but we believe it could be far bigger.

"The EFL money is an advance. Importantly, it will aid cashflow in the immediate, but football needs to find a way to increase funding to the EFL and non-league clubs in the long-term.

"Many clubs require an increase in funding just to survive. We believe in our football pyramid and again stress the need for solidarity between all clubs.

"Going forward, we are working together to find a solution which will be continually reviewed in order to assess the circumstance of the Covid-19 crisis.

"The players are mindful that as PAYE employees, the combined tax on their salaries is a significant contribution to funding essential public services - which are especially critical at this time."

During Saturday's conference call, the Premier League warned that it faces a £762m financial penalty if the season does not resume, and broadcasters demanded refunds on games they could not show.

It added that hundreds of millions of pounds could be lost in sponsorship and matchday revenue because the season has been suspended, and that the campaign will almost certainly be played behind closed doors if it resumes.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, England defender Danny Rose - on loan at Newcastle from Tottenham - said that Premier League players were keen to give up a portion of their wages to help good causes, but felt their "backs are against the wall" regarding the pressure they had faced to accept cuts.

Captains of Premier League clubs, led by Liverpool's Jordan Henderson, have been in talks over a plan to make charitable donations.

"We sort of feel that our backs are against the wall. Conversations were being had before people outside of football were commenting," Rose told the Friday Football Social.

"I've been on the phone to Jordan Henderson and he's working so hard to come up with something.

"It was just not needed for people who are not involved in football to tell footballers what they should do with their money. I found that so bizarre."

The Premier League declined to comment on the PFA statement.

'An unprecedented crisis' - analysis







Dan Roan, BBC sports editor

Rarely has the relationship between the Premier League's stars and their employers been so fragile. In an unprecedented crisis, the country's top footballers have found their voice like never before, exacerbating an unseemly row over money, and fracturing the unity of the sport in a way not seen since the threatened players' strike of 2001.

Saturday's remarkable statement represents an attempt by the players and the PFA to go on the offensive against not only their own clubs, but also their critics, including even the government.

They argue that the clubs' proposed 30% cut in wages would be counter-productive and detrimental to the NHS because of the loss in tax revenue it would result in. Privately, some Government officials accept the validity of this argument, but are dismayed that the sport is embroiled in such a squabble when Premier League players earn on average £3.5m a year.

The Premier League had hoped Saturday's conference call would convince the players of the need to accept the cut in pay that many politicians and members of the public have been calling for.

It seems that hope has proved naive however, and with clear tensions between the two sides, negotiations are now set to extend into next week.

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Laughable using the spile that by cutting their wages it would make the NHS suffer, that is unbelievable, and now some footballers are saying they are being railroaded. If they had took a wage cut off their own backs then they would not have to think they are being railroaded. All about the money

There are millions of workers and businesses which have either lost their jobs or gone bankrupt due the COVID-19 crisis and their lost tax contributions would also hit the NHS.

But according to the PFA poor old multi-millionaire football players are different and shouldn't suffer like the rest of us.

I have a message to the PFA your logic and reasoning is total selfish bollocks

I think if the players do not do something meaningful regarding wages and just watch everybody else in the country suffer including there own colleagues at the grounds then they will receive a huge backlash from the fans once this is all over

Incan see wage caps being introduced at a much lower level

There are millions of workers and businesses which have either lost their jobs or gone bankrupt due the COVID-19 crisis and their lost tax contributions would also hit the NHS.

But according to the PFA poor old multi-millionaire football players are different and shouldn't suffer like the rest of us.

I have a message to the PFA your logic and reasoning is total selfish bollocks

My mate opened up a Micro pub in my village. It is a great place to drink if you like your local beers. Within a week of being ordered to close he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He managed to avoid it for now due to being allowed to do a take away service All his regular customers put their orders in through social media like fb and so far he is keeping it going.

It just frightens me how these small businesses live day by day. This virus has hit them hard. My mate built his business up over 6 years, he has 3 other Micro pubs in the area. Within a week they could all go. When I read stories like this then compare it to the actions of the PFA it really jusyt shows what a selfish world we have become. So much so that its challenging me to not bother supporting their sport anymore. Unfortunately its the none furlough staff that would suffer, not the footballers themselves as they are already setup. I will most likely continue going but my attitude will be to help those that need it and not those that don't care.

The PFA hierarchy are a joke, Gordon Taylor is a as complete moron

“players taking a pay cut will hurt the nhs” is beyond belief and once again a Complete PR disaster by that tw*t Taylor and his pathetic cronies.

What really pisses me off is that most players would willingly take a pay cut to help out and many have already volunteered to do so, but the PFA coming out with all this bollocks makes the players just look like greedy tossers

PFA are a bunch of incompetent buffoons

There are millions of workers and businesses which have either lost their jobs or gone bankrupt due the COVID-19 crisis and their lost tax contributions would also hit the NHS.

But according to the PFA poor old multi-millionaire football players are different and shouldn't suffer like the rest of us.

I have a message to the PFA your logic and reasoning is total selfish bollocks

My mate opened up a Micro pub in my village. It is a great place to drink if you like your local beers. Within a week of being ordered to close he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He managed to avoid it for now due to being allowed to do a take away service All his regular customers put their orders in through social media like fb and so far he is keeping it going.

It just frightens me how these small businesses live day by day. This virus has hit them hard. My mate built his business up over 6 years, he has 3 other Micro pubs in the area. Within a week they could all go. When I read stories like this then compare it to the actions of the PFA it really jusyt shows what a selfish world we have become. So much so that its challenging me to not bother supporting their sport anymore. Unfortunately its the none furlough staff that would suffer, not the footballers themselves as they are already setup. I will most likely continue going but my attitude will be to help those that need it and not those that don't care.

Fully agree it is terrible how small business owners are facing bankruptcy after being affected by something beyond their control.

For me I am like you I am becoming disillusioned by the actions of professional football players plying their trade in the Premier League. I have cancelled my Sky Sports Subscription and I have vowed NEVER to take it up again.

I'm sure their are many who feel the same as me and hopefully millions of subscribers will also cancel and never return. Hopefully then players will see at least a 30% reduction in their income which will be self inflicted.

Wayne Rooney says players face a no-win situation in wage debate

In his Sunday Times column, the 34-year-old ex-England captain added: "For the Premier League to just announce the proposal, as it has done, increases the pressure on players and in my opinion it is now a no-win situation: if players come out and say they can't agree or are not willing to cut by 30%, even if the real reasons are that it will financially ruin some, it will be presented as 'Rich Players Refuse Pay Cut'.

Fellow ex-England captain Gary Lineker told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show that footballers he had spoken to were "desperately keen" to offer help but were an "easy" target for criticism.

"Why not call on all the wealthy to try and help if they possibly can rather than just pick on footballers?" the Match of the Day presenter said.

"Nobody seems to talk about the bankers, the CEOs, huge millionaires. Are they standing up? Are they being asked to stand up? We don't know.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52172196

They've been so pampered for years that they don't see the link with the clubs furloughing no-playing staff and why players wages are up for scrutiny. Instead they try and make comparisons with other rich people.

There are millions of workers and businesses which have either lost their jobs or gone bankrupt due the COVID-19 crisis and their lost tax contributions would also hit the NHS.

But according to the PFA poor old multi-millionaire football players are different and shouldn't suffer like the rest of us.

I have a message to the PFA your logic and reasoning is total selfish bollocks

My mate opened up a Micro pub in my village. It is a great place to drink if you like your local beers. Within a week of being ordered to close he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He managed to avoid it for now due to being allowed to do a take away service All his regular customers put their orders in through social media like fb and so far he is keeping it going.

It just frightens me how these small businesses live day by day. This virus has hit them hard. My mate built his business up over 6 years, he has 3 other Micro pubs in the area. Within a week they could all go. When I read stories like this then compare it to the actions of the PFA it really jusyt shows what a selfish world we have become. So much so that its challenging me to not bother supporting their sport anymore. Unfortunately its the none furlough staff that would suffer, not the footballers themselves as they are already setup. I will most likely continue going but my attitude will be to help those that need it and not those that don't care.

Fully agree it is terrible how small business owners are facing bankruptcy after being affected by something beyond their control.

For me I am like you I am becoming disillusioned by the actions of professional football players plying their trade in the Premier League. I have cancelled my Sky Sports Subscription and I have vowed NEVER to take it up again.

I'm sure their are many who feel the same as me and hopefully millions of subscribers will also cancel and never return. Hopefully then players will see at least a 30% reduction in their income which will be self inflicted.

If the fans took a stance against them after this clubs would have no choice but to lower wages to players. That would also make our ticket prices cheaper.

These players get waited on hand and foot by the staff at the clubs who support them year in year out with whatever they need. Now the staff need the players help they are nowhere to be seen and the staff are being laid off when all the players would have to do is donate £500 a week out of there 20k wages to keep them all in a job feeding there families.
It's plain wrong and something needs to change after all this is over

In a way the PFA are correct. The government would lose out on around £200m of PAYE during a 12 month period. Which could be used for the NHS or bailing out small business etc.
So wouldn't it be better for the clubs to pay the players in full, therefore paying their share of income tax and then the players via the union to donate up to 30% ?
Would make more sense to me than the clubs keeping the 30% in wage cuts

It appears Man Utd squad have already put something like this in place.

How low is that trying to use the NHS as leverage because they don't want to take a pay cut on their already ridiculous wages. Pathetic.

In a way the PFA are correct. The government would lose out on around £200m of PAYE during a 12 month period. Which could be used for the NHS or bailing out small business etc.
So wouldn't it be better for the clubs to pay the players in full, therefore paying their share of income tax and then the players via the union to donate up to 30% ?
Would make more sense to me than the clubs keeping the 30% in wage cuts

It appears Man Utd squad have already put something like this in place.

If the clubs use the 30% to pay the wages of the backroom staff that have been put on furlough, their wages will be taxed and the government won't have to pay benefits for those on furlough and will save on the administration costs of those benefits.

In a way the PFA are correct. The government would lose out on around £200m of PAYE during a 12 month period. Which could be used for the NHS or bailing out small business etc.
So wouldn't it be better for the clubs to pay the players in full, therefore paying their share of income tax and then the players via the union to donate up to 30% ?
Would make more sense to me than the clubs keeping the 30% in wage cuts

It appears Man Utd squad have already put something like this in place.

If the clubs use the 30% to pay the wages of the backroom staff that have been put on furlough, their wages will be taxed and the government won't have to pay benefits for those on furlough and will save on the administration costs of those benefits.

you are correct...but its a big IF....