PL clubs furlough non-playing staff | Liverpool, Spurs & Bournemouth U-turns

jymufc20

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Not surprising. Our owners are also billionaire leeches, they just happen to be a lot more image conscious or at least have some advisers who are more image conscious.
Or maybe, deep down, they aren't actually heartless bastards.most probably one of your suggestions though.
 

bonothom

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Scousers changed their minds after getting hammered by former players. Levy doesn't give a shit and will take the tax payers money all day long.
 

Amarsdd

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"Oh, the courage and humility for them to listen to their fans and realize their mistake and change their decision. They should be respected for that."
Fcking disgraceful from some in the media. They knew exactly what they were doing when they released the statement that their non-playing staff would be paid 100% without mentioning the details. That was not a mistake, they clearly were hoping no one would question about the details and get away with it. And it was disappointing listening to Ian Wright going out of his way to defend that and absolving them of that initial "mistake".
 

Amarsdd

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Howson was mentioning in his podcast that the non-playing staff were told they would be paid in full through the whole season the very next day after the season was suspended.
 

bonothom

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"Oh, the courage and humility for them to listen to their fans and realize their mistake and change their decision. They should be respected for that."
Fcking disgraceful from some in the media. They knew exactly what they were doing when they released the statement that their non-playing staff would be paid 100% without mentioning the details. That was not a mistake, they clearly were hoping no one would question about the details and get away with it. And it was disappointing listening to Ian Wright going out of his way to defend that and absolving them of that initial "mistake".
Another former playing talking out of his arse. Add to that Rooney and Lineker who have both come out bleating about the poor picked on super rich footballers.
 

bosnian_red

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Nice to see how well we're coming across in all this. Especially with how other giant clubs like Barcelona are, needing their players to take big wage cuts just to survive, and you realize how fragile their financial structure is compared to ours. We like to shit on the Glazers and Woodward, but we are probably in as health a financial position and as sustainable as any out there. Other clubs all looking at ways to reduce costs while we just go ahead as normal because we can handle it financially. Wouldn't surprise me if we come out of this when it's all over with a big financial advantage over others (which seemingly disappeared over the last few years with all the money in the prem, teams spending aggressively to push higher up while we never really went over the top in one summer).
 

decorativeed

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Howson was mentioning in his podcast that the non-playing staff were told they would be paid in full through the whole season the very next day after the season was suspended.
That's not true. The club only made that effort with the casual match day staff. It was a nice move, and quickly put those people's minds at rest, but the salaried staff in various departments have only found out this week what is happening with their jobs.
 

imamuppet

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I was going to abandon my kids and wife and run away with a hooker I met last week. But once my friends and family found out and said they'd never speak to me again if I went through with it, I begrudgingly decided to stay with them. Come tell me what a wonderful person I am.
You get one of my five posts,

well deserved

:lol: :lol:
 

Klopper76

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Levy trying to one up FSG and Mike Ashley:

 

TheLord

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Liverpool need a serious look at their PR department and the journalists in their payroll.
It is getting extremely distasteful with every passing day.

P.S. Ditto with Tottenham, but there’s no point talking about a “nothing club”.
 
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BusbyMalone

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Seen John Barnes out there defending Liverpool's decision to furlough its staff (this was before they reversed it) and take money from the government. Seemingly unable to understand that just because they can take advantage of this initiative, doesn't mean that they should take advantage of this initiative. Bold move by him, for sure.
 

Gasolin

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Nice to see how well we're coming across in all this. Especially with how other giant clubs like Barcelona are, needing their players to take big wage cuts just to survive, and you realize how fragile their financial structure is compared to ours. We like to shit on the Glazers and Woodward, but we are probably in as health a financial position and as sustainable as any out there. Other clubs all looking at ways to reduce costs while we just go ahead as normal because we can handle it financially. Wouldn't surprise me if we come out of this when it's all over with a big financial advantage over others (which seemingly disappeared over the last few years with all the money in the prem, teams spending aggressively to push higher up while we never really went over the top in one summer).
That would be the dream, and the strong message to send to the world, that if there's one team players should be to help win the titles back, it's Manchester United, because we are secure. And hopefully, the world realizes that those other clubs were living beyond their means and with a very thin balance.
 

Gasolin

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I was going to abandon my kids and wife and run away with a hooker I met last week. But once my friends and family found out and said they'd never speak to me again if I went through with it, I begrudgingly decided to stay with them. Come tell me what a wonderful person I am.
For me, this is the best analogy ever!
 

Mb194dc

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https://www.espn.co.uk/football/spa...bn-if-season-is-cancelled-la-liga-chief-tebas

"The furlough scheme announced by government is meant for the whole economy, including many enterprises which might be regarded as providing entertainment or otherwise dependent on elite talent. We do agree with you that restraint needs to be shown by all and we and our clubs are doing just that. Individual clubs will need to make these decisions based on their own forecasts, as each club will have its own unique position. Government's measures have considered the whole economy."
Actually agree with the league. Football going to take a massive financial hit from covid-19. I actually expect the crisis to deepen over the rest of the year, don't expect to see football till 2021. A lot of clubs will be at risk of going bust if that is the case.
 

ThierryHenry14

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Every football club's financial situation is different so some may need the government money to pay their employee. However there is no excuse for football players not taking a pay cut when they are not playing football at all.
 

Uniquim

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Thought this snippet from the Athletic was very interesting:

"[Liverpool's] hierarchy believed criticism of their furlough decision would be mitigated by the fact that, unlike Tottenham Hotspur, they would be topping up the 80 per cent coming from the government with the remaining 20 per cent to ensure that no employee would be left out of pocket.

They were wrong. And the backlash over the weekend was so toxic that The Athletic understands a number of other Premier League clubs who had intended to announce the furloughing of staff have since decided to shelve those plans."


They usually have very good sources.
 

Nights

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Seen John Barnes out there defending Liverpool's decision to furlough its staff (this was before they reversed it) and take money from the government. Seemingly unable to understand that just because they can take advantage of this initiative, doesn't mean that they should take advantage of this initiative. Bold move by him, for sure.
Scousers gotta scouse.
 

FlawlessThaw

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Every football club's financial situation is different so some may need the government money to pay their employee. However there is no excuse for football players not taking a pay cut when they are not playing football at all.
What about the tax revenue we will miss if the player's take a pay cut? Would you rather that money just goes back to FSG?

The two points you made are very seperate.
 

ThierryHenry14

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What about the tax revenue we will miss if the player's take a pay cut? Would you rather that money just goes back to FSG?

The two points you made are very seperate.
It is just an excuse from the football players and I don't understand why people are buying it. Tax revenue for the government will shrink as economy shrink. All football clubs will have a massive drop in revenue and some may be even in the red, and will pay less tax as a result, just like any other companies out there.Do you think footballers like Kyle Walker cares about the tax revenue of the government more than hookers?
 

Skills

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It is just an excuse from the football players and I don't understand why people are buying it. Tax revenue for the government will shrink as economy shrink. All football clubs will have a massive drop in revenue and some may be even in the red, and will pay less tax as a result, just like any other companies out there.
Football clubs pay close to feck all tax. The biggest source of tax income from football is players wages and VAT revenue from sale of goods.
 

FlawlessThaw

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It is just an excuse from the football players and I don't understand why people are buying it. Tax revenue for the government will shrink as economy shrink. All football clubs will have a massive drop in revenue and some may be even in the red, and will pay less tax as a result, just like any other companies out there.Do you think footballers like Kyle Walker cares about the tax revenue of the government more than hookers?
I don't really give a shit about Kyle Walker. If Tax revenue shrinks due to the economy then it's even more essential that the players continue to pay their taxes rather than the money go back to FSG who will in turn find a way to avoid tax which is difficult to do as PAYE.
 

Skills

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Players income tax + NICs make up by far the biggest state revenue from football.
 

elmo

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If any clubs want to furlough their non playing staff, it's only fair that the government gets a cut of their transfer budget for the next few transfer windows.

They really shouldn't be buying players if they 'can't' afford to pay their staffs.
 

elmo

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It is just an excuse from the football players and I don't understand why people are buying it. Tax revenue for the government will shrink as economy shrink. All football clubs will have a massive drop in revenue and some may be even in the red, and will pay less tax as a result, just like any other companies out there.Do you think footballers like Kyle Walker cares about the tax revenue of the government more than hookers?
players pay more tax than the clubs.
 

Rooney in Paris

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"Oh, the courage and humility for them to listen to their fans and realize their mistake and change their decision. They should be respected for that."
Fcking disgraceful from some in the media. They knew exactly what they were doing when they released the statement that their non-playing staff would be paid 100% without mentioning the details. That was not a mistake, they clearly were hoping no one would question about the details and get away with it. And it was disappointing listening to Ian Wright going out of his way to defend that and absolving them of that initial "mistake".
You're referring to the BBC Daily football podcast, right? I listened to it, and was amazed at how they managed to spin it as:
- a positive for Liverpool, who had seemingly only "made a mistake" and of course "not bowed to public pressure"; Ian Wright is an absolute tool in about 95% of what he talks about generally, but this was seriously pathetic; and of course, barely any counter balancing of this all, at worse it showed courage by them to recognize their mistake;
- somehow throw Klopp in there who most certainly had weighed in and would not have liked it (so obviously he had not been involved prior to the decision to use the scheme, but then had been instrumental in reversing the decision).
It's seriously disgusting how anything Liverpool related is reported, and it's so plainfully transparent.
 

dumbo

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Oliver Dolt said:
Liverpool ownership deserves plenty of credit for reversing decision to take advantage of the government furlough scheme. It's one of the things that makes FSG good owners. They listen to the fans.
Spirit of Shankly said:
Spirit of Shankly welcome the club’s honesty, change in plan and willingness to listen and be involved in productive dialogue with several parties. They have also made assurances that the welfare of their staff is paramount.

This news is the best possible outcome SOS members and Liverpool supporters could have hoped for. As ever it once again shows unity is strength.

I look forward to the living beatification of Daniel Levy and Mike Ashley if and when they backtrack.

Of course the real villain is the guy who leaked the story the leaky fecker, how dare he get Liverpool in trouble with his devious leaky ways.
 

mav_9me

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https://www.espn.co.uk/football/spa...bn-if-season-is-cancelled-la-liga-chief-tebas



Actually agree with the league. Football going to take a massive financial hit from covid-19. I actually expect the crisis to deepen over the rest of the year, don't expect to see football till 2021. A lot of clubs will be at risk of going bust if that is the case.
Because clubs will be at risk, I see them restarting the leagues this year but without match fans. One way of ensuring players' and others' staff safety would be checking IgG antibodies and seeing who is presumably immune and daily PCRs for others to catch infections immediately.
 

africanspur

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Out of interest, how outraged or upset are people about employees from the following companies being furloughed/ laid off:

-British Airways
-Easyjet
-Ryanair
-Tesla
-Marriott
-JCPenney
-GE aviation
-Sotheby's
-Macy's
-Cirque du soleil
-Norwegian air
-Ovo energy
-Primark
-Mcdonald's
-Costa
-Greggs
-Arcadia
-Nando's
-Nissan
-Wetherspoons
-TUI
-Virgin Atlantic
 

AlwaysRed66

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Out of interest, how outraged or upset are people about employees from the following companies being furloughed/ laid off:

-British Airways
-Easyjet
-Ryanair
-Tesla
-Marriott
-JCPenney
-GE aviation
-Sotheby's
-Macy's
-Cirque du soleil
-Norwegian air
-Ovo energy
-Primark
-Mcdonald's
-Costa
-Greggs
-Arcadia
-Nando's
-Nissan
-Wetherspoons
-TUI
-Virgin Atlantic
Many of these like Tim Martin, Branson, & Philip Green constantly getting hammered on the internet & in the media for the garbage they are. This is a football site so people tend to go after the football parasites.
 

dumbo

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Out of interest, how outraged or upset are people about employees from the following companies being furloughed/ laid off:

-British Airways
-Easyjet
-Ryanair
-Tesla
-Marriott
-JCPenney
-GE aviation
-Sotheby's
-Macy's
-Cirque du soleil
-Norwegian air
-Ovo energy
-Primark
-Mcdonald's
-Costa
-Greggs
-Arcadia
-Nando's
-Nissan
-Wetherspoons
-TUI
-Virgin Atlantic
All joshing and partisanship aside, I always thought of the furlough scheme as a form of protection for workers. It's a scheme that aims to encourage employers to not throw their employees on the trash heap due to financial pressures from the virus.

My issues with the richest clubs using these scheme is simply that football clubs exploit a special status as cultural/community fixtures when it suits them, but will then turn around and behaviour like stone cold bastard capitalists when money is waved beneath their noses.

From my limited knowledge of these companies I consider them fecking horrible cynical businesses. I would hope that they use the scheme instead of dumping their workforce. If you want to lump Liverpool and Spurs in with these shitty companies then that is fine by me but they should then be cut lose entirely from their cultural and community moorings and have to make do without fan good will.
 

africanspur

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Many of these like Tim Martin, Branson, & Philip Green constantly getting hammered on the internet & in the media for the garbage they are. This is a football site so people tend to go after the football parasites.
These are all companies with turnovers bigger even than Man Utd I believe (and certainly bigger than the average PL club).

Green and Branson are indeed scum but I'm interested in what your proposed solution would be. Virgin Atlantic has over 8000 employees, is Branson paying for their salaries from his own pocket? For how long?

I think people get a little caught up in thinking football clubs are huge. They're not. Even the financial powerhouse that is Man Utd turns over less than almost every company on that list. 14 of the 20 PL clubs turn over less than £200 million a year, which is relatively small fry in the business world and their entire income has disappeared overnight, with no indication of when it will restart again.
 

africanspur

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All joshing and partisanship aside, I always thought of the furlough scheme as a form of protection for workers. It's a scheme that aims to encourage employers to not throw their employees on the trash heap due to financial pressures from the virus.

My issues with the richest clubs using these scheme is simply that football clubs exploit a special status as cultural/community fixtures when it suits them, but will then turn around and behaviour like stone cold bastard capitalists when money is waved beneath their noses.

From my limited knowledge of these companies I consider them fecking horrible cynical businesses. I would hope that they use the scheme instead of dumping their workforce. If you want to lump Liverpool and Spurs in with these shitty companies then that is fine by me but they should then be cut lose entirely from their cultural and community moorings and have to make do without fan good will.
Every single club in the world is a business. Every single club is run as a business. I'd love it to be otherwise but it is the reality.

It doesn't mean that they don't still have close links to their community. I don't know what the other clubs do but Spurs does a lot of work in Tottenham. I am 100% sure that every other club is exactly the same. I'm sure that the Manchester clubs, Liverpool clubs, Villa, Newcastle, Leeds, West Ham etc etc all do great stuff in their communities.

The problem is that 'the richest clubs' are actually, by business standards, just not all that rich. Everton's turnover is £188 million. Arsenal's is £400 million. Man Utd's is £630 million (all rough figures). And they currently have literally no source of income whatsoever.

This is an unprecedented time and, for me, the kicker is not that things have shut down but that we don't know when things will go back to normal again.

If you told me that next season will start as normal, I would be furious at the decision made. If it comes out that the directors haven't taken a very large cut, I'll also be very mad.

But as it is right now, we don't know when football will start again. We don't know what will happen to TV money. We don't know what will happen with European competition. We don't know what will happen with stadium attendances. We don't know if the entire basis upon which our football clubs' financial stability is built on will go back to normal and when.

In an ideal world for me, we'd all earn roughly the same (or at the very least not have such major discrepancies) and all clubs would have similar wage and transfer budgets. We don't live in that world though. In this volatile situation, the priority should be to make sure as few people as possible lose their jobs and as few clubs as possible fall into financial difficulty.
 

11101

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Out of interest, how outraged or upset are people about employees from the following companies being furloughed/ laid off:

-British Airways
-Easyjet
-Ryanair
-Tesla
-Marriott
-JCPenney
-GE aviation
-Sotheby's
-Macy's
-Cirque du soleil
-Norwegian air
-Ovo energy
-Primark
-Mcdonald's
-Costa
-Greggs
-Arcadia
-Nando's
-Nissan
-Wetherspoons
-TUI
-Virgin Atlantic
Totally different businesses. PL clubs have a lot of revenue locked in ahead of time. Airlines especially have billions of dollars in outgoings they can't get out of (planes are expensive, fuel is bought in advance), they can't afford to pay staff too without revenue coming in. Fast fashion and other consumer businesses like that who operate on the basis of a high turnover of goods to sustain revenues are also far more at risk.

I would say there are a few on your list who won't see the other side of Covid-19 even with the furlough scheme.
 

Toblerone92

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While I wholly agree with the anonymous player in the article, and feel footballers should be donating heavily to causes such as the NHS and wages, I am appalled by Hancock and his sneering attitude towards footballers, singling them out among a plethora of overpaid professions in this country. Where were the calls for bankers and city traders to take huge wage cuts? CEO's taking multimillion pound bonuses? Insurance firms? They weren't there. He won't call them out because a large proportion donate huge sums to the Conservative party in exchange for favourable tax legislation.

It also comes down to class. Hancock is your typical Tory minister, privately educated and studying PPE at Oxford. He see's himself and his peers as a hard working politicians and business owners, thoroughly deserving of their vast wealth, and see's footballers as uncultured, working class individuals who don't know how to spend their money properly and should have some it taken away.

"Raheem and his pals don't need another Range Rover or Gucci bag, so I say they all take a 30% pay cut. How about my mate George at Barclays you say? Well he works jolly hard and despite paying next to no tax thanks to his offshore accounts, I don't feel he should be forced to take any reduction in wages and actually needs it to buy another yacht". There's likely an element of race to it too, as class and race so often go hand in hand in this country.

It's disgusting, but so unsurprising.
 

Josep Dowling

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Out of interest, how outraged or upset are people about employees from the following companies being furloughed/ laid off:

-British Airways
-Easyjet
-Ryanair
-Tesla
-Marriott
-JCPenney
-GE aviation
-Sotheby's
-Macy's
-Cirque du soleil
-Norwegian air
-Ovo energy
-Primark
-Mcdonald's
-Costa
-Greggs
-Arcadia
-Nando's
-Nissan
-Wetherspoons
-TUI
-Virgin Atlantic
You're still missing the point. The majority of those companies have low paid staff which will be furloughed to 1) retain their job after the crisis 2) the companies are not generating any income as in most cases because they had to close down. The MAIN issue with Spurs is they are furloughing lower paid staff, which is using tax payers money to pay them. This whilst still paying their top earning football players thousands a week in FULL and they are not evening working or training. Why can't some people see this?

If those companies above are still paying the directors etc in full pay then feck them as well.
 
Last edited:

Josep Dowling

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While I wholly agree with the anonymous player in the article, and feel footballers should be donating heavily to causes such as the NHS and wages, I am appalled by Hancock and his sneering attitude towards footballers, singling them out among a plethora of overpaid professions in this country. Where were the calls for bankers and city traders to take huge wage cuts? CEO's taking multimillion pound bonuses? Insurance firms? They weren't there. He won't call them out because a large proportion donate huge sums to the Conservative party in exchange for favourable tax legislation.

It also comes down to class. Hancock is your typical Tory minister, privately educated and studying PPE at Oxford. He see's himself and his peers as a hard working politicians and business owners, thoroughly deserving of their vast wealth, and see's footballers as uncultured, working class individuals who don't know how to spend their money properly and should have some it taken away.

"Raheem and his pals don't need another Range Rover or Gucci bag, so I say they all take a 30% pay cut. How about my mate George at Barclays you say? Well he works jolly hard and despite paying next to no tax thanks to his offshore accounts, I don't feel he should be forced to take any reduction in wages and actually needs it to buy another yacht". There's likely an element of race to it too, as class and race so often go hand in hand in this country.

It's disgusting, but so unsurprising.
He was asked one question specifically about footballer's salaries and gave an answer. Blame the media for the direction this has taken, not him. Also an MP's salary is around £80k a year which on average a Premier League footballer earns in a week. Their comparison in wealth is vastly different. Plus he is still working unlike footballers who are doing literally nothing at this time. But yes I'm sure this is a Tory vs Labour issue, deary me.