Professional Footballers’ Association boss Gordon Taylor says Premier League players have “agreed to play their part” during the coronavirus pandemic while other sporting events have been postponed on Tuesday.
Premier League clubs have proposed wage cuts of around 30 per cent for their players, but negotiations with the PFA have hit a stumbling block.
Members are concerned that the money made by their financial sacrifice will not be going to the right places, namely the NHS and public services.
The stalemate has seen the players receive widespread criticism, with health secretary Matt Hancock calling for them to take a cut.
“They’ve all agreed to play their part,” PFA chief executive Taylor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that players are “responsible enough” to know wages are a factor in any club’s expenditure.
“We’ve been consistent with what we’ve said from the beginning and the fact is the players feel quite aggrieved that the secretary of state for health should put them in a corner without looking.
“They’re not self-employed, they make massive contributions to the Treasury and they’ve also quite logically felt that if they don’t get that money, if a third is deferred or a third is cut, then the Treasury is £200 million a year worse off and that could be going towards the national health and will be needed.”
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Sunderland have furloughed first-team players, contracted academy players and backroom staff.
The Black Cats became the second Sky Bet League One club after Portsmouth to utilise the Government’s job retention scheme to cover 80 per cent of employees’ wages, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.
Sunderland added there was “no intention to ask any players or staff to take a wage reduction or deferral on their salary” and that all employees will be paid in full.
A statement on the club’s official website read: “Sunderland AFC can today confirm that its first-team players, contracted academy players and backroom staff have recently been placed on furlough leave due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“A small number of staff, including manager Phil Parkinson, continue to work from home, and the club’s priority remains the health and wellbeing of its players, staff, supporters and local community during this unprecedented period.”
Two more MotoGP events have been postponed because of the pandemic.
The Italian Grand Prix on May 29-31 and Catalan Grand Prix on June 5-7 have both been called off.
A statement from organisers read: “As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for these grands prix, as well as the recently-postponed French and Spanish GPs, cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events.”
The Mercedes F1 team will start delivery of up to 10,000 new breathing devices to the NHS this week – part of Formula 1’s Project Pitlane scheme to help fight coronavirus.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, both the #ItalianGP and the #CatalanGP have been postponed
Full details in the article below 👇#MotoGP | 📰 https://t.co/BK3bUUCdAu
— MotoGP™🏡🏁 (@MotoGP) April 7, 2020
The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices, which help coronavirus patients with lung infections to breathe more easily, were developed by engineers at Mercedes, University College London (UCL) and clinicians at UCL Hospital.
Olympic champion Adam Peaty will take part in a virtual bike race on Wednesday to raise money for the NHS.
The 2016 gold medallist will race the 100km ride along with Commonwealth Games boxer Callum Johnson at 10am via virtual racing platform Go Swift.
Peaty tweeted: “I’ve decided to join the 100km ride to raise money for the NHS Charities tomorrow @ 10am on @GoZwift. It’s a public and open event and would be great to have you ride with us!”
The 25-year-old was preparing to defend his 100m breaststroke crown won at Rio four years ago before the 2020 Tokyo Games were postponed.
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