Coronavirus: Premier League Extends Suspension Until It Is "Safe And Appropriate" For Football To Return

Premier League clubs will ask players to take a combination of pay cuts and deferrals amounting to 30 percent of their salary due to the financial crisis caused by coronavirus, the league said in a statement on Friday. The league's highly-paid players have come under increasing pressure to take pay cuts from government officials in recent days. "Premier League clubs unanimously agreed to consult their players regarding a combination of conditional reductions and deferrals amounting to 30 per cent of total annual remuneration," the Premier League said in a statement.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) will meet with league and club officials to discuss the proposal on Saturday.

A meeting between the 20 English top-flight clubs also agreed to indefinitely extend the suspension of the season until it is "safe and appropriate" for football to return.

The clubs are desperate for the season to be finished if possible to avoid the potential of having to reimburse broadcasters a reported USD 942 million if they fail to fulfil fixtures for television contracts.

However, despite reports of creative ways to finish the campaign with matches behind closed doors and players quarantined in World Cup style training camps, the clubs insist they will follow government advice on when it is safe for matches to return.

"Any return to play will only be with the full support of government and when medical guidance allows," the statement added.

Despite their own financial troubles, Premier League clubs agreed to provide a 125 million pound fund for the English Football League and National League to help those further down the football pyramid and a 20 million pound charitable donation to help those affected by coronavirus.

Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson has reportedly led a meeting of Premier League captains to arrange an extra charity fighting fund for the National Health Service (NHS) made up of player donations on top of any wage cuts or deferrals agreed with the PFA.

The PFA believes players should not be used as scapegoats for clubs who have chosen to furlough non-playing staff despite having the means to continue paying them 100 percent of their salary.

Tottenham's decision to furlough 550 staff on Tuesday came on the same day it was revealed chairman Daniel Levy was paid £7 million last season.

"We are aware of the public sentiment that the players should pay non-playing staff's salaries. However, our current position is that -- as businesses -- if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should," the PFA said in a statement.

Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committe, who had labelled the Premier League a "moral vacuum" for using government money believes no top-flight club should now be using the furlough scheme.

"My main concerns were, when I saw the Spurs and Newcastle stories, it sticks in the throat to have taxpayers in any way funding the economic model of the Premier League, which is not in the real world.

"That does stick in the throat, because we're going to need that money for the NHS, and we're going to need that money when we come out of this."