Premier League football has been on hold for four weeks following the outbreak of the coronavirus in England, and West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady has warned that clubs could be wrecked if players don’t take a pay cut.
The PFA claimed slashing salaries will only serve the shareholders’ interests, and the Hammers chief isn’t happy with them.
With games suspended and the sales of season tickets for 2020-21 on hold, EPL clubs haven’t been able to generate funds.
Retail outlets online and offline are also closed, and Brady has urged players to take a pay cut in order for clubs to survive.
“The PFA may believe its responsibilities end with the players but they really don’t, they owe a great deal to the structure of professional football as well. No one wants to be having pay cut discussions with anyone because no one wants to be in this position,” she wrote in her The Sun column.
“It is a global pandemic and extremely serious. And without any revenue — and no games being played — how on earth do we ensure the ongoing business survives?
“And, take it from me, unless a pay cut is put in place a number of clubs will be ruined.”
While players from the likes of Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich have had their salaries slashed, their English top-flight counterparts are yet to follow suit, leading to fans backlash.
However, talks are now underway between all 20 clubs and their playing staff about a 30% reduction in wages.
As revealed by Brady, it will be repaid if games go ahead in front of supporters and the broadcast contracts for the season are fulfilled in full, as a majority of the broadcast revenue goes into paying players’ wages.
Football is currently suspended indefinitely in the country, with action to resume only when it is safe to.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the campaign will be concluded going forward, and the financial implications arising from that could cause a lot of problems for clubs.
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