Daniel Levy among 550 Tottenham non-playing staff taking pay cut to ‘protect jobs’
Written by News on 01/04/2020
Chairman Daniel Levy is one of 550 non-playing staff at Tottenham taking a pay cut to “protect jobs” amid the coronavirus crisis.
Spurs have also followed Newcastle in furloughing – a scheme in which an employee does not work but gets 80 per cent of their salary paid for the next two months by the government – some staff “where appropriate”.
In a clear sign that Spurs are feeling the bite of the financial crisis brought on by the pandemic, Levy – paid £7m for the 2018/19 season – and others will take a 20 per cent cut to their salaries.
The club’s 2018-19 accounts published on Companies House showed the chairman earned a £3m bonus for delivering the club’s new 62,000-seater stadium on top of his £4m salary.
“The club’s operations have effectively ceased, some of our fans will have lost their jobs and most will be worried about their future,” Levy warned.
“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 per cent utilising, where appropriate, the Government’s furlough scheme. We shall continue to review this position.”
Levy’s reference to Barcelona regards their squad agreeing to a 70 per cent cut to the salaries, as Spain reels from the spread of the virus, and he said he hopes to see relevant authorities encourage players and managers to follow suit in forgoing part of their salaries.
Levy’s statement addressed the potential for a similar scenario happening in English football, as he said: “We hope the current discussions between the Premier League, PFA and LMA will result in players and coaches doing their bit for the football eco system.”
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Daniel Levy among 550 Tottenham non-playing staff taking pay cut to ‘protect jobs’
