2020-04-06_Daily_Express

Daily Express Monday, April 6, 2020 57

Howe’s assistant Jason Tindall,

technical director Richard Hughes

and chief executive Neill Blake

are also taking significant cuts.

The club have furloughed more

than 50 staff but said they were

being “socially responsible” by

looking at only those who cannot

do their jobs while games are on

hold, like those in hospitality,

player protection and

entertainment.

They are also topping

up the wages of those

who are being

furloughed but, clearly,

they are being badly

affected by the crisis.

When they were

promoted, they came up with the

biggest wage bill in the

Championship and still pay well.

England striker Callum Wilson

signed a deal for £100,000 a week

this season.

The Premier League’s finance

team have been in regular contact

with clubs and, while no team is

in immediate danger, there are

obvious concerns for the likes of

Bournemouth.

After all, they are a Premier

League team trying to live on

Championship revenue in all but

TV money and now that has

disappeared they are trying to pay

Premier League wages

without Premier League

income.

Top-flight clubs will

not get much sympathy

when Liverpool and

Tottenham apply to the

Government furlough

scheme.

But not every club has

huge underlying wealth, big assets

and billionaire owners.

That is why when some clubs

ask the players to defer their

wages or take cuts, it is being

done to keep the club alive –

because they are in grave danger

of going bust.

confident a peak is

close and that

distancing measures

imposed on the public

will begin to have an

impact on the number

of cases and deaths.

The Premier League

plan has stuck firmly to

discussions about games

behind closed doors

only.

Clubs were told at

the meeting to start

preparing for a

possible June

return.

UEFA

president

Aleksander

Ceferin is

hoping to

present a

new

schedule for

the

Champions

and Europa

Leagues by

May 18.

public. To ensure fans

do not try to attend

games, there have also

been talks with the TV

companies to extend

the number of games

screened during June,

with the clubs hopeful

some may even be

shown on terrestrial TV.

Sky and BT have

rights to show

some of the

remaining

fixtures, but not a

capacity to show

all, and

discussions

have

focused on

a free-to-air

agreement

that will

allow far

more to be

screened.

Health

officials are

FROM BACK PAGE

with Government

health officials hopeful

of the peak of the

coronavirus crisis in the

next few weeks, they

will sanction games

under strict guidelines.

The plan was

discussed at an

emergency meeting on

Friday, with an accord

reached in principle to

finish the Premier

League season should

the situation improve as

expected.

The plan, discussed at

the highest level, would

allow games to be

played under strictly

controlled conditions at

empty stadiums. League

officials have also

discussed extensive

measures to keep the

players in a sterile

environment as far as

possible, limiting

contact with the wider

Premier League could be

cleared for a June finale

TALKS:

UEFA boss

Ceferin

itality,

and

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were

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with

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But

By Jeremy Cross them their wages

would still be paid by

the club.

A club spokesperson

said: “We remain

determined to protect

our people, their jobs

and our business while

at the same time doing

what we can to

support our wider

community.”

they announced they

would be utlising

Government money to

pay staff along with

Tottenham, Newcastle,

Norwich and

Bournemouth.

City’s chief

operating officer Omar

Berrada wrote to all

club staff over the

weekend assuring

top-flight club to

confirm a commitment

to pay their entire

non-playing staff in

full during the

coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was

taken last week at a

board meeting.

Liverpool, however,

caused outrage when

CITY BANKROLLING OWN STAFF

MANCHESTER CITY

will not take

advantage of the

Government scheme

to furlough staff.

The Premier

League champions,

owned by Abu

Dhabi-based

billionaire Sheikh

Mansour, left, are

the first

a different league

financially to City,

United and Chelsea.

Gate receipts are small

with a capacity of 11,300

at Bournemouth’s Vitality

Stadium, so the lack of games

is not the biggest problem

from a turnover point of view.

What really hurts is the worry

about having to pay back TV

money – the 20 clubs could be

responsible collectively for £750m

• and sponsorship packages.
  Clubs are facing different
  potential bills to TV depending on
  how much they have earned from
  live games, with Liverpool
  possibly having to pay back £60m.
  But even a £30m bill would be
  crippling for Bournemouth.
  Manager Eddie Howe, who
  earns £3m a year, became the first
  high-profile Premier League
  figure to take a “substantial”
  pay cut last week after
  volunteering to do so.

FOOTBALL: TOP-FLIGHT TEAMS IN CRISIS

ON EMPTY

SMALL

ISSUE

Clubs like

the Cherries

and the

Clarets,

below, are

struggling

to survive