Liverpool have announced they have placed some non-playing staff on furlough as the Premier League remains suspended due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Premier League leaders Liverpool have furloughed some of their non-playing staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are holding talks about the prospect of salary deductions for players and senior staff, the club said on Saturday.
Liverpool added on their website that the furloughed staff would continue to receive 100 per cent of their salaries.
Several English top-flight clubs, such as Tottenham, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, have already put non-playing staff on furlough, with football’s return in England contingent on medical guidance and government support.
“Liverpool FC has placed some staff who are impacted by the Premier League suspension on furlough,” the European champions said in a statement.
“The club has confirmed those staff will be paid 100 per cent of their salaries to ensure no member of staff is financially disadvantaged.”
Furloughed British workers can claim 80 per cent of their wages up to STG 2,500 ($A5,114) ($A5,114) per month as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which means Liverpool will top up the remaining 20 per cent of salaries for its furloughed staff.
The Premier League said on Friday its clubs would consult with their players over a proposed 30 per cent reduction in wages.
Liverpool said salary deductions were being discussed and there was “a collective commitment at senior levels of the club” to secure jobs for employees.
“These discussions are complex and as a result the process is ongoing,” the club added.
Meanwhile, Burnley have warned they would face an STG 50 million ($A102 million) shortfall if it is not possible to complete the Premier League season.
The Clarets moved to counter the narrative that clubs can necessarily afford to ride out the storm as they outlined how the possible loss of the remainder of the season would affect them – saying some top-flight clubs could miss out on as much as STG 100million ($A205 million).
Burnley said that if the campaign cannot be completed they faced a loss of matchday revenue worth STG 5million ($A10 million) – money that would still be lost if the league resumes behind closed doors – as well as an £45million ($A92 million) shortfall in broadcasting revenue.
“It’s a completely unprecedented situation that we and other Premier League Clubs face and which we could not have foreseen in any way only just a few weeks ago,” Burnley chairman Mike Garlick said.
“It’s now not just about Burnley or any other individual club anymore, it’s about the whole football ecosystem from the Premier League downwards and all the other businesses and communities that feed from that ecosystem.”
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Headline: "Liverpool: Premier League leaders reverse furlough decision & apologise to fans" https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52191140 Surely this is a clear example that sport has been captured by suits who see it as nothing more than an 'industry' that they can cream to fund their million dollar lifestyles at the expense of the mug punter fan. If nothing else the current crisis exposes the excesses and greed of the many people that hover around sport like vultures to a picnic.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Cancel the season & give the prima donnas something else to whinge about. 30 years since they were champions & STILL WAITING.
peter ostle
Guest
$400m dollars, at current rates of lost tax. In recent times the government has stuffed in financial commitments to employees and employers $600 billion to keep the workers in pay etc. The furlough is 80% of the monthly salary, up to a maximum of c$5000. The employer pays the other 20%. The players are coming across as cosseted and self absorbed. Their union boss as still as smug and self conceited as ever. Some at an individual level have pledged resources, but this has been now totally eclipsed by the events of the past few days. An initial offer of 20%, some weeks/days ago, would have given the players the space in which to then negotiate the long term issues that COVID-19 has presented. It would have put pressure on the other people involved in the finances of football - the admin of the clubs, the managers/trainers, the EPL etc, the FA, the broadcasters. That initial cut being similar in tapering to lessen the impact of those at lower end of the pay scale.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
And again from https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52168692 "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." For "furlough leave" read "government wage subsidy". So some of the richest clubs in the world are putting their staff off and letting the government pick up most of the wages bill while the professional footballers and owners continue on as if nothing is happening.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
This from https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52168692 So players on huge salaries compared to the mug punters who fork out to attend the games seem intent on portraying themselves as mercenaries at this time. Wow, great look. ---------------- 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 jobs, amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the union says that equates to more than £500m in wage reductions, 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." -------------------