PREMIER LEAGUE MUST ACT ON PLAYERS' WAGES.

As a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, I find it more than a little concerning that the club has decided to seek the support of government in paying its non-playing staff while, apparently, that cohort are continuing to draw their vast salaries. How can it possibly be right or justified for the state, which means ordinary taxpayers, to be called upon while players on salaries of tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of pounds a week are still being paid in full ?

We all know that footballers wages are ludicrously inflated and wholly unjustified, but then that's the market they play in. Clubs that can attract large crowds and profligate sponsors use their income to attract the most expensive players rather than always being overly generous with other staff. Now that the crowds are absent and sponsors must be looking for ways out of their arrangements, it must surely be the players wages that are subject to the first cuts and not the non-playing staff who are laid off. 

One can only hope that the government sees it this way too. Of course, clubs in the lower divisions may not be in the same position as the Tottenhams of this world and many may deserve support, but for those in the Premier league there can be no reason for government money to be called on until players take substantial reductions in their pay, as has happened in some other countries.

Addendum :

And so the body which represents professional footballers doesn't like the notion of their members taking a pay cut. Even in these unprecedented times of national emergency, the PFA objects to Premier League players being asked to give up some of their massive wages. These players who are, on average, paid more than 100 TIMES the national average wage, that is £60,000 PER WEEK, with some being paid up to 4 or 5 times this amount, whose lifestyles are such as to be distant dreams to the rest of us, should not be asked to surrender part their pay as it would be "detrimental to the NHS", according to this egregious organisation. Their argument is that a pay cut would result in the government losing tax income and this, in turn, would impact the NHS; what utter bilge.

How much money is the government being asked to spend on supporting the non-playing staff of clubs such as Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham, Norwich and Bournemouth which have already placed non-playing staff on furlough ? A simple calculation would suggest it is as much as £5m per month, while players continue to draw their multi-million pound salaries, untouched.

I reiterate my previous comment. If the players do not accept a substantial cut in their wages, there should be no thought of providing support to their vastly rich clubs. If clubs have overstretched themselves, that's not the government's fault, nor is it their problem. Football clubs are not essential services and if some of the biggest names have financial problems they should look to manage their own biggest outlays - players' salaries - long before they seek government support.

The current avaricious, self-serving and frankly risible stance of the PFA is utterly unacceptable. That some of our leading clubs have sought government support before reducing players' wages is a shocking disgrace. Football is doing itself no favours by this disgusting display of greed.