Harry Redknapp hits out at Tottenham Hotspur after non-playing staff had wages slashed

Tottenham Hotspur have announced a 20% reduction in the wages of 550 non-playing staff during April and May due to the financial constraints the coronavirus pandemic has put English Premier League clubs and their European counterparts in.

However, the players are yet to have their wages slashed, and former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp can’t believe it.

The 72-year-old has been left puzzled with the club’s decision as he reckons the players earning the big bucks should be the ones getting pay cuts in order to help the staff.

“I can’t believe it. Surely players should be taking a cut. This isn’t for big clubs like Tottenham. You are talking here about a club where their players earn £10-12million a year,” Redknapp told The Sun.

“Tottenham are owned by Joe Lewis, one of the richest men in the world, and his club are cutting the wages of all their non-football staff by 20 per cent. I can’t believe it.

“Here is a club where the average player earns £80,000, £90,000, £100,000 a week. And that’s average! Their top players earn £150,000 a week, maybe even £200,000 a week. Surely, players should be taking a cut. They all know the importance of helping out the staff and they will want to help — they know there are a lot of people struggling.”

While players from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus have agreed to take substantial pay cuts, with other clubs in their respective leagues doing so, their Premier League counterparts are yet to follow suit.

The PFA held a meeting yesterday with the Premier League and English Football League, but a decision wasn’t reached.

Tottenham are one of the few top-flight clubs to have moved to furlough staff onto the Government’s job retention scheme, and that decision has been widely criticized given their financial status.

While the players are likely to agree to a pay cut in the coming weeks, the huge discrepancy between the highest and lowest earners at Spurs makes such a decision complicated, as agreeing on a universal percentage for the players to sacrifice wouldn’t be straightforward.