Coronavirus UK: Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy announces 20% pay cut for all club staff

The coronavirus pandemic has forced citizens across the UK to remain confined inside their homes. British PM Boris Johnson, who himself tested positive for coronavirus, announced a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown last week. Premier League clubs have since been forced to make amendments in their wage bills in order to balance the books, with no income being generated due to the suspension of the English top-flight. After Newcastle, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy announced a pay cut to club personnel for the months of April and May amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

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Coronavirus UK: Tottenham owner Daniel Levy announces 20 percent pay cut for club staff

In his letter to Tottenham fans and the general public, chairman Daniel Levy wrote, “We shall all need to work together to ensure the impact of this crisis does not undermine the future stability of the club. The decision by governments around the world to effectively close down economies with unheard-of peacetime impacts on civil liberties in order to minimise the terrible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the right one to protect human lives. The crushing devastation on industries in many countries, the inter-dependence of international trade and travel in every aspect of our daily life is only now beginning to be felt. Every person on this planet will be affected and in my lifetime I cannot think of something so impactful."

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Tottenham head honcho Daniel Levy went on to talk about how the club was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic on an internal level. Levy added everyone employed by the club in a non-playing capacity will lose 20 percent of their pay.

The English businessman further wrote, "The club’s operations have effectively ceased, some of our fans will have lost their jobs and most will be worried about their future. Our sponsors will be concerned about their businesses and our media partners have no certainty when we may play games again or whether we will be allowed to play in front of our fans. In the meantime, the club has an annual cost base running into hundreds of millions of pounds. We have seen some of the biggest clubs in the world such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus take steps to reduce their costs. Yesterday, having already taken steps to reduce costs, we ourselves made the difficult decision – in order to protect jobs – to reduce the remuneration of all 550 non-playing directors and employees for April and May by 20% utilising, where appropriate, the government’s furlough scheme. We shall continue to review this position."

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