Leeds United set example to rest of the game as players help out financially

Leeds players, management and senior staff have volunteered to defer their wages for the foreseeable future to help ensure that all of the club’s 272 non-football staff can be paid during the sport’s shutdown due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Professional Footballers Association, Premier League and English Football League will hold a meeting today to discuss the financial impact of the pandemic-enforced suspension of action until April 30 at the earliest.

Alongside the voluntary measures taken by Leeds, Birmingham City have asked players earning more than £6,000 a week to accept a 50 per cent deferral – and many in the industry believe it is a case of when not if other clubs follow suit with similar measures.

Last week, the EFL released a £50m package to help its clubs manage cash-flow issues caused by the suspension in action, but it is widely viewed that more assistance will be required to help clubs further down the pyramid.

Many within the game are calling for measures from particularly Premier League outfits to ease the plight of their EFL rivals.

On widespread wage deferrals, Leeds-based football agent Hayden Evans told The Yorkshire Post: “I think they will all fall into line. I don’t think it needs a Premier League directive and I think that they will all do it and I would be amazed if they didn’t.

“Putting the industry to one side, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Leeds United fan and it is another occasion we can be proud of our club. People take it for granted, but there are many clubs and squads that are not doing that (yet). It is something for us to be proud of.

“You would think that if anything does come out of this, it is that people will be a little bit more kinder, tolerant and understanding about general positions. If it is a club up in the Championship who have bundles of cash, then there is no excuse not to pay.

“If it is a club down in the lower reaches who are struggling for survival, then everybody has got to take a hit (to help).”

A number of ways of helping particularly struggling EFL clubs have been mooted, with former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan proposing a ‘fighting fund’ drawn from the wages of players in the Premier League, in which the Global Salary Survey disclosed that the average basic remuneration is £61,024 a week.

Offering his view on the issue of deferrals, Paul Masterton, of First E11even Sport Management, said: “I think they are all going to have to do it.

“It is a case of speaking to the PFA, Premier League and EFL.

“There are phone calls and meetings going on all the time between clubs and there is talk of deferring bonus payments and wages and what is going to happen with people’s contracts.

“Clubs normally pay players until the 30th of June and if they (players) are out of contract, they get four weeks pay from the PFA.

“If the season extends, it is a case of being reimbursed and there has to be some sort of fund.

“I cannot see the season starting until June 1 at the earliest as the peak is supposed to be in the middle of May.”

Meanwhile, world governing body FIFA has set up a working group to look at temporary amendments and dispensations of standard player contracts – which expire on June 30 – to safeguard clubs and players, and it is also looking at adjustments to the summer transfer window.

Masterton added: “I think they will all agree and just keep it (window) open until January 31.

“Whenever the season finishes, they are going to need a break and they will just keep it like that. It will all have to be uniform across Europe.”

The Leeds first-team squad agreed to the move to defer their pay following meetings between chief executive Angus Kinnear, director of football Victor Orta and several senior players.

Orta has stressed that the move is symptomatic of the ‘unity and togetherness’ of the Leeds players and indicative of the bond which has grown between them and those who work behind the scenes at the club.

A collective statement issued on behalf of the squad read: “Leeds United is a family, this is the culture that has been created by everyone at the club, from the players and the board to the staff and the supporters in the stands.

“We face uncertain times and therefore it is important that we all work together to find a way that the club can push through this period and end the season in the way we all hope we can.

“In the meantime, let’s work as one to listen to the government advice and the health service and beat this virus.”

Orta continued: “My players have demonstrated an incredible sense of unity and togetherness and I am proud of their actions.

“To Marcelo (Bielsa) and his staff and all of the players, we thank them for putting our wider team first and taking care of family.

“Now we must focus on public health, and when the people are safe, finish what we started.”