Premier League leaders Liverpool have granted leave of absence to some of their non-playing staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are holding talks about the prospect of salary deductions for players and senior staff, the club said on Saturday.
Liverpool added on their website that the leave of absence of staff would continue to receive 100% of their salaries.
Several English top-flight clubs, such as Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, have already put non-playing staff on leave, with football’s return in England contingent on medical guidance and government support.
Furloughed (Leave of absence) British workers can claim 80% of their wages up to 2 500 pounds ($3 065) per month as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which means Liverpool will top up the remaining 20% of salaries for its furloughed staff.
The Premier League said on Friday its clubs would consult with their players over a proposed 30% reduction in wages.
Liverpool said salary deductions were being discussed and there was “a collective commitment at senior levels of the club” to secure jobs for employees.
The United Kingdom’s hospital death toll from the coronavirus rose by 20% to 4 313 at 1600 GMT on April 3, the health ministry said on Saturday.
As of 0800 GMT on April 4, a total of 183 190 people had been tested of which 41 903 were positive.
Leverkusen players agree on salary cut
Bayer Leverkusen players, staff and management on Wednesday unanimously agreed to accept an unspecified pay cut as the Bundesliga remains suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Bundesliga rivals Hoffenheim later followed suit, with club bosses saying success for the small club in recent years had created a cushion and it was now time to give something back.
Hoffenheim are financially supported by billionaire major investor Dietmar Hopp.
Leverkusen captain Lars Bender said discussions had taken place in the last few weeks and on Tuesday they reached an agreement.
The two clubs join several others in the Bundesliga to have agreed pay cuts, including Borussia Moenchengladbach and Schalke 04.
“The (Leverkusen) team is ready to waive part of the salaries in order to support the club in its efforts to financially overcome the corona crisis,” Bender said in a club statement following a makeshift training session where players trained only in pairs.
“Salary cut minor sacrifice for games future”
England coach Eddie Jones says agreeing to a pay cut during the coronavirus shutdown was an easy decision to make because safeguarding English rugby’s future is the priority.
Jones accepted a salary deduction of over 25% to help ease the financial burden on the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which is set to lose up to 50 million pounds ($61.89 million) over the next 18 months.
Jones, who signed a new England contract until the 2023 World Cup on Thursday, told reporters on a teleconference call the RFU’s executive team set the tone by immediately agreeing to the pay reduction proposal.
“I was really pleased with how decisive they were and it was easy to make a decision to follow that,” said the Australian.
“It’s a small thing that you do personally to ensure that we can get through the next period of time and part of that is taking that salary cut.”
With the exception of the Premiership, the RFU has confirmed the end of the 2019-20 season for the second-tier Championship, women’s Premier 15s and the community game due to the pandemic.
Despite facing the heavy losses, the RFU said it would provide a 7 million pounds ($8.3 million) relief package to community clubs.
Jones said both amateur and professional clubs would suffer financially during the period.
“So we’ve got to make sure that whatever form rugby takes post-coronavirus it’s in a stronger state than it was previously,” he adds.
