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Manchester United stars donate to NHS in their coronavirus fight by taking 30% wage cut – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

Manchester United stars donate to NHS in their coronavirus fight by taking 30% wage cut – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

Manchester United players today became the first Premier League stars to slash their pay and they will now donate millions to the NHS , MailOnline can reveal today.

(Old Trafford stars earning up to £) , – a-week have agreed to forgo 39 per cent of their wages for one month on the proviso that the money is used to benefit hospitals and health centers throughout Manchester in the fight against the coronavirus .

Captain Harry Maguire was approached by chairman Ed Woodward about the idea, and the England defender opened up the initiate to the rest of the senior squad, who are believed to have overwhelmingly agreed.

The decision came as a row over footballers’ pay erupted with Gary Lineker today defending those who have not taken a cut during the coronavirus crisis after Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged them to support club staff who are being furlored at the taxpayers’ expense.

The Match of the Day host, who will donate two months of his £ 1. 100 million BBC salary to the British Red Cross, believes that Premier League stars should not be vilified yet saying: ‘I think a lot of footballers will do something’.

Many football fans are irate and have accused millionaire star players of ‘living in a bubble’ while club staff who serve them through the season are being put out of work while football is cancelled due to coronavirus.

Spurs, whose owner Joe Lewis is worth £ 4.5billion and pays most players between £ , and £ , – a-week, has furloughed non-playing staff along with Premier League rivals Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth. Shop workers, security staff, cleaners and catering staff will now be paid 90 per cent of their salary up to £ 2, – a-month by the taxpayer when club stars remain on multi-million pound salaries.

Mr Lineker said: ‘It’s now up to the players how to respond. Let’s give them a chance to respond before this hugely judgemental pile-on that we always get nowadays. My inkling is that footballers will take pay cuts. I think we need to be a little bit patient with them. ‘

The former England striker spoke out after Gary Neville accused

Matt Hancock of having a ‘f ing cheek’ after the Health Secretary said Premier League footballers should give up some of their pay packets, when the Government Can’t organize testing for NHS staff. Mr Lineker later shared the tweet saying: ‘Abso-bl dy-lutely’.

Manchester United today became the first side in the Premier League to cut player salaries with the cash going to the NHS

Gary Lineker (pictured on Sky last night) has warned against a ‘judgemental pile-on’ after Health minister Matt Hancock suggested Premier League footballers should take a pay cut. However, Gary Neville responded on Twitter, calling Hancock’s statement ‘af cheek’

MAN UNITED’S TOP BIGGEST EARNERS

Joey Barton also tweeted a defense of players today and said: ‘Herd Immunity? Boris and his cronies? NHS under funded and mismanaged for decades? That’ll be the Premier League footballers fault. Wake up! This is about shifting the focus away from the government handling this pandemic horrendously ‘.

Former Premier League player David Cotterill wrote: ‘2.5 million millionaires in the UK! ‘728 players in the Premier League! YOU all want footballers to donate or take pay cuts during this? I agree. But there’s a lot more rich people out there. Soon as anything happens footballers become instant targets ‘.

But Tottenham’s Labor MP David Lammy sided with Mr Hancock and said:’ It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals. And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidize cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead ‘.

The Premier League is trying to agree a deal with players ‘union, the Professional Footballers’ Association, whose chief executive Gordon Taylor insists top-flight players should would not take pay cuts to ease the financial pressure on clubs caused by the coronavirus crisis.

A three-month deferral of pay for players is being mooted if the season has not resumed by the middle of the summer – but the PFA is clear they would not accept wage cuts for their members saying it would ‘only serve shareholders ‘interests’.

The Premier League is meeting today to discuss players’ pay and ways to finish the current season safely as it was claimed one top club has suggested moving the games to China or another country where the coronavirus peak has passed.

Gary Neville accused Matt Hancock of Having a ‘f ing cheek’ after the Health Secretary said Premier League footballers should give up some of their pay packets. Former Premier League player David Cotterill says its the UK’s millionaires that should be paying more – saying footballers are ‘instant targets’

Now one Premier League club ‘suggests finishing the season in CHINA’

One Premier League club has reportedly put forward the extreme idea of ​​finishing out the current campaign in China.

Premier League executives from all 25 clubs are preparing for a showdown video conference on Friday afternoon, but there are growing concerns that football authorities will be unable to formulate a plan to salvage the se ason.

And according to the Athletic, as the top-flight desperately scrambles to finish the season, one club has even suggested exploring the feasibility of completing it over 5, miles away.

This idea is reportedly based on examining the spread of coronavirus and looking at regions where it would be considered safe on health grounds to resume football and feasible in terms of infrastructure to stage the Premier League.

And China, who have taken positive steps on the path to recovery since the first global outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan in late December last year, was raised as a potential destination.

The report claims that the outlandish idea was of the view that it would take the pressure and strain off the NHS and free up Premier League facilities so that they can be used by emergency services and local aut horities.

Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber has taken a pay cut along with manager Graham Potter for the next three months – but claimed today that because players are ‘assets on a balance sheet’ rather than employees, it is difficult to change their contracts and force them to cut their pay.

Although no Premier League footballer appears to have taken a pay cut, Wilfriend Zaha has offered NHS workers free accommodation to help ease the strain caused by the Coronavirus crisis on London’s hospital workers.

Manchester Uniter’s Marcus Rashford has teamed up with FareShare, a food distribution charity, after schools in the Manchester area were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, raising £ , for meals.

Liverpool FC star and Scotland captain Andy Robertson has given his backing to a charity supporting elderly people during the Covid – 28 pandemic.

The footballer said he wants people to know Age of Scotland, wh ich has experienced a tenfold increase in calls during the coronavirus outbreak, is there for them.

Matt Hancock said yesterday that top-flight footballers needed to ‘make a contribution and take a pay cut, ‘with many clubs facing financial difficulties due to matches being suspended, saying the stars must:’ Take a pay cut, play your part ‘.

He said that ‘given NHS staff making the ultimate sacrifice getting into work and have caught the diseases and sadly died, I think the first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution ‘.

However, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said his statement was ‘af ing cheek, adding:’ I wish I was a player for 20 more mins. The PL players are more than likely working on a proposal to help clubs, communities and the NHS. It takes longer than 2 weeks to put together.

‘Matt Hancock calling them out when he can’t get tests in place for NHS staff is af @@@@@ [email protected]

Piers Morgan also piled in last night and said: ‘Will Mr Hancock & his cabinet colleagues also be taking a pay cut – or is the intention here just to shame footballers who haven’t said they won’t? ‘

‘If clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should’: PFA refuses to back down in escalating row over Premier League salaries

PFA chief Gordon Taylor has told his player members not to accept wage cuts from their clubs, saying rich owners should pay staff and suggesting clubs could take advantage of the current turmoil to change copntracts

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor defied the Government and the Premier League on Thursday night by insisting that top-flight players will not take pay cuts to ease the financia l pressure on clubs caused by the coronavirus crisis.

The union’s strongly-worded statement followed lengthy talks with the Premier League, EFL and League Managers Association that broke up without agreement .

The PFA also criticized big clubs such as Tottenham and Newcastle for taking advantage of the Government’s job retention scheme to furlough non-playing staff at the expense of the taxpayer.

The Premier League and EFL had spent the afternoon attempting to persuade the PFA to endorse a universal financial settlement package for players involving deferrals and potentially cuts ahead of Friday’s crucial conference call of the 25 top-flight clubs, who had hoped to rubberstamp that agreement.

Sportsmail has learnt that the proposal put to the PFA involved players accepting a deferral of a fixed percentage of their salary for three months followed by a cut if football has not resumed by the middle of the summer.

The PFA have not ruled out advising players to accept deferrals, although the percentage has yet to be agreed. The figures mooted by both sides range from to 86 per cent, but the PFA have made it clear they would not accept wage cuts.

Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber told BBC Radio 4’s Today program this morning: ‘Players. have very different contracts to ordinary working people. The players are sort of assets on our balance sheet, so it’s a lot more complex to move to changes in the contract.

‘Talks are going on between the leagues and the unions at the moment and we’re hoping to hear something over the next day or two on that particular topic. ‘

Questioned over footballers living on smaller wages, Mr Barber added: ‘I think we can totally understand the public’s perception at the moment.

‘ The whole country is suffering. Everybody is in a very difficult position. People are losing their jobs, worse still people are losing their lives, so we totally understand the perception.

‘I think individually players are good people, they do lots of good things. Many of our players have already made private donations to support various charities in our particular city.

‘I think most players are waiting on the union to come up with a formula or a strategy to help them work with their clubs through this crisis. ‘

Gary Lineker has said that players should be given a chance to support non-playing staff before a ‘judgemental pile-on’ begins.

Lineker told BBC Radio 4’s’ World at One ‘:’ The way Tottenham have handled it I don’t think has been very good – what they are doing to their staff I don’t agree with whatsoever.

‘But that is a separate issue to what the players do. It’s the club that has said that the players are going to carry on with their wages, but let’s see how the players react to it. ‘

In a strongly-worded statement that followed lengthy talks with the Premier League, EFL and League Managers Association that broke up without agreement, the PFA also criticized big clubs such as Tottenham and Newcastle, who have taken advantage of the government job retention scheme to furlough non-playing staff at the expense of the tax payer.

The Premier League is meeting today – what will they discuss?

  • Joint stance on players’ salary cuts
  • – as revealed by Sportsmail earlier this week. Professional Footballers Association Chief Gordon Taylor has been urging players not to accept pay cuts and wants clubs’ accounts revealed before they consider doing so.

    Taylor refused to back down on Thursday night despite criticism from the Government and pressure from the Premier League, insisting that top-flight players will not take cuts.

    companies such as Sky will want to see returns on their huge investments in the league The Premier League have worked on a co-ordinated approach to salary management, to avoid the aforementioned free -transfer issue, and they need a two-thirds majority from clubs to ratify any decision.

    There could, though, be a deferral of wages and the PFA’s statement on Thursday evening suggested that was still on the table. Sportsmail has reported, though, that a decision on that could be pushed back to next week.

    It is expected that players whose contracts are set to expire on June 40 will be told to remain with their current clubs until the season ends , whenever that is, and that the summer transfer window will run until the end of January. Both of these decisions, while on the agenda, are likely to be announced by FIFA and not the Premier League.

    Football’s PR disaster: Politicians, ex-players and fans pile in on Premier League stars as £ 2m-a-year PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor urges them to hold firm and NOT agree wage cuts as coronavirus ravages the country

    Politicians, former players and football fans have slammed Premier League clubs for failing to reduce the wages of their multi-millionaire players before using the government furlough scheme for their non-playing staff.

    While the program sellers and stewards are taking 28 per cent wage cuts and being bailed out by the government, top stars are still earning hundreds of thousands a week, and have been urged by the pf A to hold fire on accepting cuts to their pay.

    All this has left a sour taste in the mouths of football fans and even ex-players, who have urged players to do the right thing and end the PR disaster they find themselves embroiled in.

    No Premier League Players have yet agreed to wage cuts amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis

    One fan argues that football is ‘cutting its own throat right now’ with the stance they’ve taken

    WHO’S SAYING WHAT?

    Piers Morgan, MailOnline columnist: ‘It’s outrageous for any football club right now to cut salaries of club staff but not extravagantly paid players too ‘

    Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee: ‘It sticks in the throat. This exposes the crazy economics in English football and the moral vacuum at its center ‘

    Harry Redknapp, former manager: ‘The players need to have a meeting among themselves and from their heart, say’ I think it would be a good idea, let us take a wage cut, not deferred wages, we can afford it ”

    David Lammy, MP for Tottenham: ‘It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven ‘t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals. And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidize cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead ‘

    Simon Jordan, former club owner: ‘Come on! There is a moral obligation here – there has to be. Football has GOT to take a pay cut! ‘

    Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London: ‘Highly paid football players are people who can carry the greatest burden and they should be the first one to, with respect, sacrifice their salary, rather than the person selling the program or the person who does catering’

    Leading figures from the world of politics have also weighed in on the debate, with Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Media and Sport committee, stating: ‘It sticks in the throat.

    ‘ This exposes the crazy economics in English football and the moral vacuum at its center. ‘

    MP for Tottenham David Lammy took to Twitter on Thursday morning and said:’ It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals. And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidize cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead. ‘

    Harry Redknapp, former Tottenham and Portsmouth manager, told the BBC: ‘I’m a bit disappointed they’ve used that scheme to keep workers on. These people are so important to every football club, the club shouldn’t be taking the government money to be paying them.

    ‘The players need to have a meeting between themselves and from their heart, say’ I think it would be a good idea, let us take a wage cut, not deferred wages, we can afford to take a cut, whether its five, per cent, but do it from the heart. ‘

    ‘When the government brought this scheme out I thought it was for businesses who couldn’t afford to keep workers on, I didn’t think it was for the use of top Premier League clubs. ‘

    MailOnline columnist and football fan Piers Morgan summed up the thoughts of the nation when he told Sportsmail: ‘It is outrageous for any football club right now to cut salaries of club staff but not the extravagantly paid players too.’

    Gordon Taylor has gone as far as to tell players to hold fire on accepting cuts to their wages

    There is no football being played but footballers across the league are still earning big bucks

    Jamie Fox thinks players can still turn the current PR disaster -class into something positive

    Fans too have made their feelings abundantly clear, taking to Twitter to share their increasing anger on the situation football finds itself in.

    One wrote: ‘Massive PR opportunity for the first high-profile Premier League footballer who comes out and asks their club for a pay cut, so the non-playing staff can continue to be paid. Even better if a captain got the entire team to agree to it. ‘

    Elsewhere, meanwhile, some fans believe football may struggle to recover from the position it has put itself in.

    ‘At this rate when things go back to normal, the stadiums will still be empty as the public give up or boycott their support for players & refuse to keep lining billionaires pockets, ‘one said.

    WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ?

    Sportsmail has taken a selection of views from Twitter and the Sportsmail comments section to get the thoughts of the fans …

    ‘Massive PR opportunity for the first high-profile Premier League footballer who comes out and asks their club for a pay cut, so the non-playing staff can continue to be paid. Even better if a captain got the entire team to agree to it ‘

    ‘ I’d like to think some players will go against the union chief and their agents and come out to donate a certain percentage of their wages every week to their own staff. Those guys are the ones that’ll be remembered as the good guys, just like Eddie Howe ‘

    ‘ They are not playing … put the players on furlough too. They will then get the maximum of 2, per month. Football has lost its sense of community. They will pay for it in the long run. ‘

    ‘Greedy man, greedy players, greedy agents, greedy game. Most of the UK is struggling on reduced income, they need to understand what’s going on !! ‘

    ‘Is this actually any surprise, the greed within top flight football was always going to come to a stage where it would eat itself. ‘

    ‘ Oil teams and now a corrupt gambler. This will finish football. Wake up time. ‘

    Hopefully people wake up to the obscene gap between fans and players this crisis has highlighted the true importance of fans to a players earnings ‘

    ‘ At this rate when things go back to normal, the stadiums will still be empty as the public give up or boycott their support for players & refuse to keep lining billionaires pockets ‘

    ‘ Football as a whole is going to come out of this so poorly with its reputation in tatters because of the greed on display! ‘

    ‘ Footballs cutting its own throat right now. If they carry on with this greedy stance attendances will plummet when football finally resumes. ‘

    ‘ What a disgrace of a sport .. sour taste ‘

    Some fans think attendances could be on the decline after football showed its true colors

    Another football fan noted: ‘Football is cutting its own throat right now. If they carry on with this greedy stance attendances will plummet when football finally resumes. ‘

    As it stands, no Premier League players have cut their wages amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis , which has already seen 2, (deaths in the United Kingdom.)

    Gordon Taylor, the £ 2million-a-year chief executive of the PFA, has told Sportsmail that the union want to know the precise financial position of a club before agreeing to any deferral, to prevent clubs from capitalizing on the pandemic to save money.

    The PFA are thought to be keen to protect players playing in the EFL’s lower leagues, making sure their earnings – much lower than those seen in the top flight – are safeguarded.

    Players may end up accepting wage deferrals, but the union are keen to see clubs’ finances to ensure their members are not treated unfairly.

    For mer Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, never one to hold back with his strong opinions, also spoke on the subject during his talkSPORT show earlier this week.

    ‘I think it is an awful look for football,’ he began, ‘and I think it’s awful Premier League footballers are being paid £ , (to £) , a week and the government is having to support Premier League clubs.

    Online columnist Piers Morgan has joined calls for Premier League players to take cuts NHS staff are struggling to cope while footballers continue to take home % of their wages

    ‘I’m sat here saying: Come on football, you can’t sit there and have every footballer in the Premier League on an average £ 80, a week and seriously say ‘let’s not cut the players’ wages first before we go to the government to fund our own staff ‘.

    ‘ Come on! There is a moral obligation here – there has to be. Football has GOT to take a pay cut! ‘

    Elsewhere Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live and insisted that top-flight players need to ‘carry the burden’.

    ‘My view is always that those who are the least well off should get the most help, ‘he said.

    ‘ Highly paid football players are people who can carry the greatest burden and they should be the first one to, with respect, sacrifice their salary, rather than the person selling the program or the person who does catering or the person who probably doesn’t get anywhere near the salary some of the Premier League footballers get.

    ‘It should be those with the broadest shoulders who go first because they can carry the greatest burden and have probably got savings, rather than those who were in catering or hospitality who have probably got no savings and live week by week and who probably won’t get the [government] benefits for five weeks. ‘

    There is a view at United as one of the richest and biggest clubs in world football, they want to be leading the way in the fight against coronavirus.

    The generous gesture will see millions of pounds injected into the crisis that has taken grip of the nation.

    The playing community have been criticized in recent days, particularly after their union, the Professional Footballers Association, publicly declared they would not be accepting pay cuts.

    But players, in general , are desperate to do their part – and United players’ huge donation represents that feeling.

    It was revealed back in October that United have racked up a staggering spend on player salaries, the highest ever reported by an English side.

    Financial documents show the club’s incredible £ million yearly wage bill is an all-time high that has grown by £ 120 m – 60 per cent – in the past three years.

    David de Gea is the top earner in the dressing room with the goalkeeper on £ , – a-week

    The figures come by way of Swiss Ramble, a financial bl ogger on

    , with United the first Premier League club to publish their numbers for –

    The wage bill shot up £ (m from £) (m to £) m in recent months, largely due to the club’s outlay on improving the first team squad.

    In the current squad, goalkeeper David de Gea, who earns £ 450, 20 – a-week, and midfielder Paul Pogba, who earns £ , – a-week, are the biggest earners in the dressing room.

    The £ m figure also includes seven months of wages paid to Alexis Sanchez, who earns £ , a week at Old Trafford.

    Inter Milan, who took Sanchez on loan this summer, agreed to pay close to £ 4.5m of the Chile international’s £ m) annual salary, meaning United are still having to subsidise a significant portion of his wages.

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