Pay Cuts in Football: A Justified Solution to Fight Covid-19 or Not

Pay cuts in football, an activity that has gained grounds as a possible counter to coronavirus, has been ongoing since the pandemic hit. Imposed by different clubs, coronavirus pay cuts have been touted as a moral responsibility to help economy bear cost of the virus. However, multiple views on the subject have emerged from players and staff, with not all on the same page as others.

Initiating with as early as March of this year, the Scottish Championship Team Hearts proposed 50 per cent wage cut for all players and staff. The club owner Ann Budge said that she aimed at protecting as many jobs as possible, but had termination on cards for those who did wish not to agree. Nonetheless, it later emerged that terms were revised to 30 per cent, as the Scottish FA intervened. And the issue escalated as Premier League, La Liga and Serie A among others, bugged on the vitality of lowering the wages.

However, nothing has been as swift as expected. Following the suit, the Premier League also asked for 30 per cent wage cut, but the stars including Kevin De Bruyne, Troy Deeney and Mark Noble denied taking cuts. They argued, “We’d rather give our cash to the NHS than help out our rich owners.”

The validity of their point than invited the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), who in support stated that coronavirus pay cuts would actually damage the public services fighting the pandemic. “The proposed 30 per cent salary deduction over a 12-month period equates to over £500million in wage reductions and a loss in tax contributions of over £200m to the Government,” the union quoted as a consequence to the activity.

However, some saw it completely different to the others, with Manchester United the first club to donate 30 per cent of their wages for one months to their local NHS. Individually, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe took a cut, while Brighton boss Graham Potter announced that he would forego his salary for the next three months.

Likewise, in La Liga, the players struggled to reach on common terms, arguing reduction of 70 per cent as too hefty. But the clubs instead decided to put footballers on government furloughs to reduce labour costs while the stoppage of play continued. They did this so as to continue paying wages of employees. Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Espanyol were the first to accept the deal.

In Ligue 1, majority of the clubs agreed to take coronavirus pay cuts. The league announced that depending upon the salary, the pay would be reduced from anywhere between 20 to 50 per cent. However, Paris Saint-Germain players did not strike similarity with the views and denied following the code.
Meanwhile, Serie A clubs voted unanimously to implement a one-third wage cut for all playing staff. But 19 clubs except Juventus agreed to the plan, who announced a separate agreement with their players to give them no salary for March, April, May and June.

Pay cuts in football have drawn both scepticism and praise, and while it is acceptable that players should look after the safety of clubs, the owners have largely gone missing in the scenario. Arguably, they have retained the staff, but feasibly still kept hold of the money for personal business and not for societies benefit.