Tottenham reverse furlough decision for non-playing staff

London, April 13 (IANS) English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on Monday reversed their decision to use the government’s furlough scheme for some non-playing staff during the coronavirus pandemic after drawing flak from supporters.

According to a BBC report, a Spurs statement said non-playing staff will receive “100% of their pay for April and May”.

Earlier on March 31, the club had announced 550 employees would take a 20 per cent pay cut in an attempt “to protect jobs”.

Liverpool had previously also reversed their decision to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave.

The Premier League giants had said they were going to apply to the government’s taxpayer-funded job retention scheme.

However, later, chief executive Peter Moore in a letter addressed to the fans said: “We believe we came to the wrong conclusion last week and are truly sorry for that.”

Manchester City had said they will not be furloughing employees at the taxpayer’s expense despite a number of English Premier League clubs taking advantage of the British government’s scheme to fund non-playing staff during the coronavirus epidemic.

“We can confirm, following a decision by the chairman and board last week, that Manchester City will not be utilising the UK government’s coronavirus job retention scheme,” the club had said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Professional Footballers Association head Gordon Taylor had earlier donated 500,000 pounds ($617,000) to the Premier League players fund for the National Health Service (NHS).

Sky Sports said in a report that the PFA has made a separate, 1 million pound donation from members of the executive team to the fund.

–IANS

dm/bbh