When many people are unable to work and their livelihood is affected due to the spread of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, the high-paying Premier League players live a life of “just taking money and not playing football.
Xinhua News Agency, London, April 4 (Reporter Zhang Wei) the Premier League announced on the 3rd that 20 clubs unanimously agreed to seek opinions from players on the proposal of 30% salary reduction. The professional players association of the union issued a statement on the 4th, he said that they believed that the salary cut meant paying less taxes, which was harmful to the British medical system and even the government, which were in urgent need of support.
When many people are unable to work and their livelihood is affected due to the spread of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, high-paying Premier League players live a day of “taking money alone and not playing football. Previously, many British politicians, including the British Health Secretary Hancock and London Mayor Sadik Khan, had called on the Premier League players to reduce their salaries. Among them, Hancock said at the British government’s daily news conference on the epidemic on the 2nd: “I think everyone should play a role, including Premier League players. Many people are making sacrifices. Some of my colleagues in the medical system even lost their lives because they were infected with the virus at work. I think the first thing Premier League players can do is to reduce their salaries and make contributions.”
I don’t know if under pressure, the Premier League announced after the shareholders’ meeting on the 3rd: “Since the suspension of the season, the 2019-2020 season has faced significant and sustained losses. In order to protect the employment of the entire professional football circle, the Premier League club agreed to seek players’ opinions on conditional pay cuts and delayed payment of up to 30% of their income.”
In fact, the professional players association has negotiated with the British Super League organization on issues such as player salary reduction on the 1st, but no agreement has been reached. Earlier this week, the Professional Players Association also reminded players not to agree to the club’s salary reduction requirements without authorization, on the grounds that they did not think the club could be “dedicated”, use the players’ money to pay the club staff, but to transfer and other matters.
On the 4th, the Professional Players Association discussed the issue of salary reduction with the Premier League again, but their statement after the meeting still did not show too much “sincerity”. Although the statement begins with a bold font emphasizing that “all Premier League players want and will make huge financial contributions in this unprecedented period”, however, there are two paragraphs in the article that are “fighting for reason”, telling everyone that they think that the pay cut is actually harmful.
The statement said that the players are all taxpayers, and their income tax plays a very significant role in supporting national public services, especially in such a crisis moment. “A 30% salary cut will cause huge losses to the Treasury, which is actually harmful to our national medical system and other government-supported services.”
The professional players association carefully calculated an account. The annual income of Premier League players decreased by 30%, which was equivalent to a reduction of more than 0.5 billion pounds, which would reduce the government’s tax revenue by more than 0.2 billion pounds. “How will this affect the national medical system? Did the Premier League consider the proposal of pay reduction? Did Hancock, the health minister, think about it when calling on players to cut their salaries?”
The issue of players’ pay reduction has not been discussed. Some Premier League clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur have already applied for government subsidies for some staff. Today, Liverpool, the Premier League’s “leader”, has also joined this line, that is, the government bears 80% of the wages of these temporary unemployed people, no more than 2,500 pounds per month. Liverpool stressed that they would make up the difference to ensure that the salaries of these employees remained unchanged.
Of course, many players still want to contribute their strength. Liverpool captain Henderson is organizing a meeting of Premier League captains to discuss supporting the medical system through the establishment of funds. However, Manchester United is the most active in the Premier League. It is said that the “RED MAGIC” team members have decided to donate 30% of their monthly salary directly to local medical institutions.