I ALWAYS was and still am very confident that many footballers will donate huge amounts to help during this unprecedented period.
It’s an extremely complex and complicated situation and is therefore only right they are taking their time.
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Across the country and leagues, players already have and will continue to play their part.
The vast majority of Premier League players understand that they get paid a lot of money. Most are from working class backgrounds and are no different to anybody else.
We’ve already seen a number of individuals do their bit to help — whether that be through donating their money or time.
While we’ve read about how they are contributing, I’m sure there is a lot going on that we have not heard about.
Football is an easy target as it is a multi-million-pound industry but players don’t need people calling them out to do more.
Just because we don’t read it or see it being posted on social media does not mean players are doing nothing. But it makes complete sense that footballers are listening to advice and taking their time.
As an example, we have already seen David De Gea anonymously donate £270,000 to help tackle the coronavirus in Spain.
We see the work Marcus Rashford has done in helping to raise huge sums to help get food out to those deprived of a free school meal.
We have seen Jordan Henderson working behind the scenes trying to organise a Premier League fund that will raise millions of pounds for the NHS.
These are just three examples of the working going on — and there are countless more.
Just because we don’t read it or see it being posted on social media does not mean players are doing nothing to help.
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But it is not a simple situation so it makes complete sense that footballers are listening to advice and taking their time.
Firstly, do they defer their wages, take a cut, or gift it?
Secondly, do they do it individually, alongside their clubs, or as a collective of players?
As we are now seeing, players rightly want to know that their money is going to the right place and with maximum impact.
It must also be remembered that everyone’s salaries vary.
I know they are all on massive wages but not everybody in the Premier League is a multi-millionaire. While footballers are far from the only wealthy people in the country, it is only right that they should help.
Furloughing was to help smaller businesses who are really going to be struggling. It was not designed to help companies who have made millions and millions of pounds over the last few years.
But in my experience, that was never in doubt and it’s wrong to single them out as a group for criticism without knowing all of the facts.
It was the same in my time as a player, when great work was constantly going on behind the scenes.
At times like this, most will be more than happy to help.
What doesn’t sit right though is how clubs are increasingly placing their staff on furlough leave.
I get it when the likes of Burnley come out and say that the uncertainty right now means they might run out of money by the end of the summer.
And it should also be said that what’s right for a club like Norwich is not the same for others.
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But furloughing was clearly brought in to help smaller businesses who are really going to be struggling in terms of not having something to go back to.
It was not designed to help companies who have made millions and millions of pounds over the last few years.
Unfortunately, some clubs are not coming out of this too well at the moment.
That being said, many more are doing great things in their local communities right now.
And on top of that, we have seen the Premier League promise to advance £125million to the EFL and National League and give £20m towards the NHS.
Players have taken a bashing in some quarters but people need to understand it from their point of view.
We have already seen numerous examples of footballers going above and beyond.
It’s a tricky situation and I have no doubt they are taking advice as to how best their money and time can be spent.
As we have seen, most footballers will only be too happy to help.
