Liverpool have become the latest Premier League club to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave.
The club has confirmed today that the staff affected will receive 80% of their salary through the government’s job retention scheme, while the remaining 20% will be paid by the club.
Newcastle, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Norwich have declared already that they will furlough some non-playing staff. And now Liverpool have taken that route.
A Liverpool statement said: “Even prior to the decision on staff furloughing, there was a collective commitment at senior levels of the club – on and off the pitch – with everyone working towards a solution that secures jobs for employees of the club during this unprecedented crisis.
“There is ongoing active engagement about the topic of salary deductions during the period matches are not being played to schedule. These discussions are complex and as a result the process is ongoing.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock said Premier League players should “take a pay cut and play their part” during the pandemic. The Premier League clubs are actively working on it and will ask their players to take a 30% pay cut in order to protect jobs.
The Premier League has also said it would advance £125m to the EFL and National League, and give £20m towards the NHS.
Disappointing from Liverpool
Newcastle and Spurs received a lot of criticism from the fans when they announced that they’re placing some of their staff on furlough.
However, this is Liverpool, we’re talking about – a global brand and six-time European Champions. Plus, they’re on course to winning their first league title in 30 years.
Just a couple of days back, Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool skipper, organised a meeting with other Premier League captains to create a million-pound fund to help the NHS.
The decision may seem practical, but it is completely against the core ethos of the club.
As a die-hard Liverpool fan, I feel disappointed. An incredibly rich club owned by a billionaire is taking public money in a crisis paints a really really bad image, and whatever great ideology the club had set over the years has taken a massive blow. The ‘You Will Never Walk Alone’ theme sounds shabby and hollow now.
This is a club that made a pre-tax profit of £42m and increased turnover to £533m in 2018-19. The club is owned by a businessman who has a net worth upwards of £2bn. I expected a lot better from the Reds.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is designed to help smaller businesses to weather the financial storm and wealthy taxpayers have used it to their advantage, and this is disappointing.
I will say it again – it goes against Liverpool’s core ethos and values.
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