Football divided over how best to financially support fight against coronavirus

The indefinite postponement of top-level English football has deprived clubs of vital income. On Friday, the Premier League said its clubs would consult players about a 30 per cent wage deferral but a “chaotic” video conference involving captains, managers and chief executives ended without agreement.

It was reported yesterday evening the captains are close to setting up a charity foundation to help non-playing employees at their clubs, community groups and NHS charities, which could become permanent.

On Saturday, Liverpool joined Premier League clubs Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Norwich City in furloughing non-playing staff despite a £42m pre-tax profit for the 12 months up to May 31, the day before they won the lucrative Champions League.

The players’ union argued a deferral could deprive the Exchequer of over £200m, and worry it will benefit the league’s mainly billionaire owners, hence their potential alternative.

“The proposed 30 per cent salary deduction over a 12-month period equates to a loss in tax contributions of over £200m to the Government”, argued a PFA statement on Saturday which stressed: “All Premier League players want to, and will, play their part in making significant financial contributions.”

The union said the Premier League’s £20m donation to the community “could be far bigger” and called for increased funding to Football League and National League clubs, not simply the promised £125m advance.

As those at the top bicker, clubs lower down and players across English football are acting.

Leeds United’s were amongst the first to agree a deferral, and Doncaster Rovers are one of a number of Football League squads furloughed, while some have taken pay cuts. Vice-chairman Ehab Allam has asked Hull City’s players to take a 20 per cent reduction, while Sheffield Wednesday’s are said to be discussing a deferral.

Owls winger Jacob Murphy yesterday delivered food packages to the elderly in Wales with his brother Josh, who plays for Cardiff City.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson, Editor