Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, has told talkSPORT that players may have to accept permanent wage reductions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
But he will not urge his members to take pay cuts right now, and has insisted the PFA’s reserve funds will NOT be used to help in-trouble clubs survive the ongoing football hiatus.
While many Premier League sides have the financial backing to survive, others in the lower leagues, and even some of the smaller teams in the top flight, are losing paralysing amounts of amount of income during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A ball hasn’t been kicked in the English game since March, and while there are ‘tentative plans’ for the Premier League to return in June, realistically a return to action does not appear on the immediate horizon.
And without the regular income matches bring in, some clubs are standing on the brink.
Many of those clubs are looking to the PFA to help, with player wages during this crisis their biggest financial burden.
Some players have agreed wage deferrals with their clubs, but there are now questions over where the money to pay them in the future will come from with no gameday income.
And as the world continues to battle against coronavirus, there have been many questions asked over whether the crisis should signal a rethink concerning money in football and if footballers’ salaries should now be capped.
Taylor was quizzed about this by talkSPORT host Jim White on Wednesday morning, and the PFA chief was initially defensive when asked if players’ incredible wages need to be ‘reset’.
The PFA chief admitted footballers WILL have to be paid less ‘if the economy of football is affected’ by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he didn’t appear to believe that time is now.
“Why are players’ salaries always a subject for discussion? They get paid what the employers consider they’re worth,” he told talkSPORT.
“But of course, if in fact the economy of the game suffers, like the economy of the nation suffers, than there has to be some adjustments.
“From that point of view the players appreciate that.
“But we have been dealing with clubs going into financial trouble throughout the last four decades; there must be some 70 clubs that have faced administration.
“Clearly the game is in shutdown, but the game has survived two World Wars and it survived the problems and the tragedies of the 1980s. The game has got to show resilience, but of course it’s not got to be reckless, it’s as simple as that.”
Asked if he’d consider using the PFA’s considerable cash reserves to help in-trouble clubs, Taylor quite simply said no – that money is there for players and the myriad of issues they face over the course of their careers.
“The players’ union isn’t there to run the clubs, it’s there to protect players and we have funds to help players in hard times,” added the 70-year-old.
“We have funds to help players who have to retire from the game, it’s an average eight-year career and it’s a very precarious profession.
“We also have funds to train players for future jobs and we also have funds to help our former players, of whom we’ve got some 50,000, when they have problems.
“So that’s why our expenditure is in the region of some £20million or £35million a year if you also include our non-contributory pension scheme.
“But it is about the players, and players will be looked after to the best of our ability.”
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