Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur has become so desperate to survive amid the coronavirus pandemic that it had to approach a former coach of the club Mauricio Pochettino to accept a pay cut on his severance package.
When the North London club sacked the Argentine on 19 November 2019 due to poor run of games, the club agreed to pay him £8.5million annual wages as his severance package.
Little did the club know that there would be a pandemic months later that would halt football, reduce the club’s revenue and make football business almost impossible to run without looking for how to cut cost.
The club recently showed how desperate it needed to cut cost and save some money when it announced that it would key to the United Kingdom Furlough scheme.
Tottenham Hotspur‘s chairman Daniel Levy announced that the club had furloughed some of its non-playing staff. However, the club had to reverse its decision due to pressure from fans and analysts.
Mauricio Pochettino is the new card on the table
Now, Daniel Levy and his team have turned to 48-year-old Mauricio Pochettino in an attempt to see if they can use him to cut cost and save some money.
The Argentine coach has been jobless since he was sacked by Tottenham but he continued to earn £8.5million as Tottenham management agreed with him before they let him go after over four seasons with the club.
Though talks with him are still ongoing according to reports, it is left to see whether the Argentine would consider the club at this critical period.
Besides Pochettino, Tottenham is also talking with other sacked backroom staff of the club who are still on the club’s payroll to see if the club can strike a new deal with them.
Tottenham is also in talks with the players of the club and coach Jose Mourinho, the successor of Mauricio Pochettino, to see if they can agree on a 10% cut on their wages while the pandemic last.
Recall that the Premier League has earlier advised footballers to take a 30% pay cut in order to assist their clubs during the coronavirus break. But the Professional Football Association (PFA) insisted that the players should not accept the pay cut until the clubs make known their financial situation to the association.
