At a crossroads
The United Kingdom’s economy has encountered a challenging phase, with consecutive monthly declines in GDP marking the first back-to-back contraction since the tumultuous days of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
English Premier League giants Chelsea on Saturday announced that they would neither furlough the full-time employees nor impose any pay cut on the players despite the financial stress caused by the stoppage of football for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The club can confirm we will not be taking advantage of the Government’s current Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which runs to 30 June. We are not planning any general redundancies or furloughs for our full-time staff who are continuing to be paid 100 per cent of their current wages.” a statement read on the official website of the club.
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“Casual workers and match day staff employed by the club are being compensated by us through 30 June as if matches had been played and we had been operating as normal,” the statement added.
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The club also informed that the players of the women team and the women’s academy programs would continue to get financial assistance as if everything was normal.
About the men’s team, Chelsea informed that the club board had been in touch with the players and held extensive talks about what kind of effort they can make to assist in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
“The objective of these talks has been to find a meaningful partnership around ensuring we preserve jobs for staff, compensate fans and participate in activities for good causes,” the statement said.
The Blues further stated that the players would not have to contribute directly to the club’s financial cause but asked them to contribute towards charity as they did for the National Health Staff (NHS) through the Players Together initiative.
“At this time, the men’s first team will not be contributing towards the club financially and instead the board have directed the team to focus their efforts on further supporting other charitable causes. As this crisis develops the club will continue to have conversations with the men’s first team regarding financial contributions to the club’s activities,” the west London club said.
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