Sheffield Wednesday midfielder weighs into footballer pay cut debate as minister demands action

Premier League players in particular are coming under increasing pressure to take pay cuts, with some clubs having come in for criticism for furloughing lower-paid non-footballing staff under the terms of the Government’s coronavirus jobs retention scheme while player wages go unaffected.

Championship Sheffield Wednesday are one of the clubs in discussion with the PFA, EFL and LMA about how to come to a ‘conciliatory agreement’ on how best to handle the topic of player wage deferrals as football attempts to withstand the loss of matchday revenue.

The club announced earlier this week that they were furloughing staff but that chairman Dejphon Chansiri was to ensure wages are paid in full by ‘topping up’ the 20 per cent shortfall offered to staff as part of the Government’s scheme.

Following open letters sent by DCMS chair Julian Knight to both Premier League CEO Richard Masters and Chancellor Rishi Sunak encouraging top tier clubs to follow the lead of Bayern Munich, Juventus and Barcelona in taking pay cuts, health secretary Matt Hancock was asked about the issue.

He said: “I think that everybody needs to play their part in this national effort and that means Premier League footballers, too.

“Given the sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS who have made the ultimate sacrifice of going into work and have caught the disease and sadly died, I think the first thing that Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part.”

Hancock has been criticised in some quarters for ‘singling out’ footballers while other mega-rich professions ‘go under the radar’.

In a social media response to a video of Hancock’s comments, Wigan-owned Windass wrote: “Marcus Rashford has paid for 400 thousand people to be fed in Manchester, that’s more than all Matt Hancock’s hedge-funded mates have done I’m sure?”

Last week Wednesday players and staff kicked off a club-run fund for vulnerable people in Sheffield with a £20,000 donation.