Jame Carragher took aim at his former club Liverpool for the ‘poor’ decision to put staff on furlough amid the coronavirus crisis, while fellow ex-Red Stan Collymore described the move as ‘plain f***ing wrong’.
The club confirmed in a statement on Saturday that non-playing staff would be paid 80% of their salary through the government’s job-retention scheme – funded by the tax payer – with the rest of their wages topped up by the club.
‘Liverpool FC has placed some staff who are impacted by the Premier League suspension on furlough,’ the statement read.
‘The club has confirmed those staff will be paid 100 per cent of their salaries to ensure no member of staff is financially disadvantaged. Last month the club also confirmed that it would pay its matchday and non-matchday staff while the Premier League is suspended.’
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Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United are among the Premier League clubs to have taken similar action but Carragher, who won the Champions League during his time at Anfield, blasted his former club for their actions.
‘Jurgen Klopp showed compassion for all at the start of this pandemic, senior players heavily involved in @premierleague players taking wage cuts,’ Carragher tweeted.
‘Then all that respect & goodwill is lost, poor this @LFC.’
Fellow former Liverpool star Collymore added: ‘I don’t know of any Liverpool fan of any standing that won’t be anything other than disgusted at the club for furloghing staff. It’s just plain fucking wrong.
‘Fellow football fans, furlough is for small business staff to keep those small businesses from going bump!
‘Every Premier League owner has serious cash, and make money from skyrocketing values of clubs, so what aren’t you getting about YOUR owners dipping into THEIR pocket?’
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