Footballers’ union boss Gordon Taylor says clubs in England face an uncertain future as a result of coronavirus but insists players will do everything they can to keep them in business.
Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), said players will be happy to get round the table with their clubs to agree how to deal with the financial impact of the Covis-19 pandemic.
But he insisted players will not be dictated to by clubs – with Premier League outfits seeking pay cuts or wage deferrals of up to 30% for their stars in a bid to ensure they can balance the books while football remains suspended.
Taylor admitted there was an existential threat to some teams as a result of the current break in action and the associated drop in revenues.
But the PFA chief called for more stringent controls of management of clubs to ensure they stayed afloat.
(Image: PA)
“You can’t guarantee anything in such a climate like this, in a world where every country is suffering and dealing with a virus they’ve never known before,” Taylor told beIN SPORT’s Keys and Gray show.
“When you get a situation like this then the whole game can blow up like a balloon being pricked.
“We do have a record number of full-time clubs, it is becoming more difficult – in spite of the fact that, before this epidemic, clubs have never had more money – it’s about management of money.
“There’s got to be a tighter control of income and expenditure and the management of clubs, otherwise
we are painting a false picture.
“All I can say is that players will play their part in achieving this objective (of keeping clubs afloat), I can assure you of that.
“We want players to be around the table with their clubs, with their managers, with their chief execs, with their directors of finance, and to be fully in the picture and to agree between them – rather than be dictated to.
“It’s not as though football is a job for life, and if we can save their income, then we will do. But if the situation does become worse, then they will agree that they are part of a solution to overcome that.”
Premier League stars this week launched the Players Together NHS fund, which has already raised more than £4million and is set to donate millions more to help the UK’s efforts to combat coronavirus.
(Image: PETER POWELL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Players want to ensure their money is going to the right places to help the NHS and other charities, rather than agreeing to pay cuts which they fear would benefit wealthy club owners.
Meanwhile, Taylor also reiterated the PFA’s position that incomplete campaigns should be completed if at all possible, rather than skipping forwards to the 2020-21 programme in the event of further delay.
“This is the 19-20 season, we have the rest of 2020 to deliver the season,” he said.
“These are special and unique times. We’ve managed to get football through two world wars… having survived that, the least we can do is to hang on to the idea that we can get through this season.”
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