Premier League: What is your top-flight club doing to plug the coronavirus cashflow gap?

The coronavirus outbreak has cleared the English football calendar indefinitely, leaving clubs up and down the country with difficult decisions to make as their cashflow dries up.

One of the toughest decisions is what to do about paying players and non-playing staff.

Politicians, the Premier League, the Professional Footballers’ Association and some players have all spoken publicly on the issue in the last few days…

Five clubs have chosen to furlough some staff so far. Here is a round-up of what Premier League clubs have announced regarding pay so far…

Arsenal

The Gunners will pay all their casual workers to the end of April, with a promise to review the situation if the football authorities delay the resumption of the season further.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth are using the government’s furlough scheme, placing “a number of staff” on paid leave while public funds cover 80% of their wages up to £2,500 a month. Bournemouth will top up the rest to ensure none of their staff lose out financially.

Manager Eddie Howe, assistant boss Jason Tindall, chief executive Neill Blake and technical director Richard Hughes have also taken “significant” voluntary pay cuts amid the crisis – Howe being the first Premier League boss to do so.

Brighton

Brighton head coach Graham Potter, deputy chairman and chief executive Paul Barber and technical director Dan Ashworth have each taken a “significant” voluntary pay cut for the next three months.

Barber has written to staff to warn that there “may be rougher seas ahead” but reassured them that “all our people, and their families, remain our priority” and has said the club have not made a decision on furloughing yet.

Staff affected will receive 80% of their salary through the government’s job retention scheme and the club will make up the difference.

Burnley

Burnley have promised to continue to pay all matchday and non-matchday casual staff during the current shutdown.

Crystal Palace

Chairman Steve Parish promised on 18 March that all employees will receive full pay during the coronavirus outbreak and that matchday staff would not lose out as a result of the suspension of the season.

Everton

Everton have said they are “committed to ensuring that nobody engaged by the club is disadvantaged financially at this challenging time”, guaranteeing payments to casual workers.

Liverpool

Liverpool have placed some non-playing staff on temporary leave. Staff affected will receive 80% of their salary through the government’s job retention scheme and the club will make up the difference.

Manchester City

Manchester City will pay their entire non-playing staff in full and have confirmed they will not make use of the government’s job retention scheme.

“We remain determined to protect our people, their jobs and our business whilst at the same time doing what we can to support our wider community at this most challenging time for everybody,” said City in a statement.

Newcastle

Newcastle United were the first Premier League club to place their non-playing staff on temporary leave.

Managing director Lee Charnley instructed club employees that they will still be fully paid, but that they should apply to the government to subsidise 80% of their pay packet.

Norwich

Norwich have also made use of the government’s job retention scheme, with the club topping up the 80% pay so that staff will receive their full salary.

The club have also donated over £200,000 to help those in need in Norfolk, made up of the playing squad, coaching staff and executive team donating a percentage of their salaries.

Tottenham

All 550 non-playing staff at Tottenham are taking a 20% pay cut, initially for two months.

Chairman Daniel Levy, who earned £7m last year, is one of those to give up a fifth of their earnings and has called on Premier League players to “do their bit for the football eco-system”.

The remaining clubs may have announced donations or schemes to help the local community and the NHS but have yet to publicly announced what they are doing about pay.