The coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19 is not done with the world economy yet as things continue to grow worse for all aspect of the world economy especially football. Tottenham has become one of the latest clubs that have to find a way to remain afloat amid the dreaded pandemic.
The London based club announced that all the 550 non-playing staff of the club would have to forgo 20℅ of their wages in order to keep the club, which is the 8th biggest football club in the world in terms of revenue, running.
While making public the idea behind the drastic decision, the chairman of the club, Daniel Levy said: “People need to wake up to the enormity” of the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Levy net worth was £4.358bn. He earned about 7 million pounds in 2019 – 4 million pounds in wages and three million pounds as revenue he earned for completing and moving Tottenham into a new stadium.
Since he is among the non-playing staff of the club, the pay cut which would initially commence in April and end in May would affect Levy’s earnings in 2020.
Just the beginning, Daniel Levy says
The 58-year-old chairman of Tottenham said: “The crushing devastation on industries in many countries, the interdependence 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. With over 786,000 infected, nearly 38,000 deaths and large segments of the world in lockdown, we need to realise that football cannot operate in a bubble.
“We may be the eighth largest club in the world by revenue, according to the Deloitte survey, but all that historical data is totally irrelevant as this virus has no boundaries.”
Why not the stars in Tottenham
Meanwhile, Tottenham is being criticised for cutting down the pay of non-playing staff while leaving the jumbo pay of the players who have been doing nothing since live matches were suspended due to the pandemic.
Despite the criticism of the policy, it is obvious that there is no going back. The club can only do anything about the payment of its football stars if the planned meeting of the Premier League, Professional Football Association and English Football League advice so.
