Brighton chief warns PFA players will be worse off if clubs go BUST as coronavirus pay cut row goes on
BRIGHTON chiefs have warned the PFA — solve the player wage crisis now or face the consequences.
And despite being far from safe from relegation the Seagulls are NOT one of the clubs pushing for a June 30 deadline to complete the season.
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Ahead of today’s crunch Premier League talks, Brighton owner Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber fear clubs will go bust with players suffering more in the long term if pay cuts are not agreed soon.
Barber, who has accepted a reduction in his salary, said: “We’re in the midst of football’s worst crisis and we need everyone pulling in the same direction.
“The worst thing we can have is for clubs to go out of business because that isn’t going to help players at all. Because there will then be fewer jobs for those players.”
Talks with the PFA over a collective approach for all Premier League sides broke down last week, leaving individual clubs to take things forward.
Bloom praised senior Brighton players Lewis Dunk and Glenn Murray for their role in talks about wage cuts.
But he urged the players’ union to look at the longer-term picture and show more flexibility about the principle of their members taking short-term pay cuts.
Bloom declared: “It is the right time now for the PFA to step up and look at the wider picture of football.
“Not just right now but their players in the future, the current players who will have contracts potentially running out in the next year or two and also the future players. Also the younger players who don’t even have contracts now.
“The PFA needs to be thinking of those players and also those lower down the league because a lot of those clubs literally won’t have money to pay wages in a month or two.
“And the last thing we need as an industry is so many clubs to not only go into administration but perhaps not even get out of it. So there is a wider picture at play here and the PFA has a big responsibility.”
Top-flight clubs will hold a video conference with League officials today to discuss the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the game.
Brighton, who sat three places but only two points outside the relegation zone when Covid-19 stopped play, are one of the clubs who would benefit most from abandoning the 2019-20 campaign.
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But Bloom said: “From our point of view and I think the majority of the Premier League clubs, we would very much like to finish the season.
“I know we’re in a position close to the relegation zone. But, for the integrity of the league, it’d be very good to finish it.
“There does come a point when you can’t keep waiting. I don’t think June 30 is that point.
“But this situation is so unique, so unprecedented, I think every option should be looked at.
“It shouldn’t automatically be — we can’t finish before June 30, therefore the season must finish, with the new season starting in August.”
But Bloom is a successful businessman — and business hates uncertainty.
The Premier League’s Big Six clubs are determined to find a way to play the remaining 92 games, even if that means delaying the end of the season to much later in the year.
Asked if there had to be a cut-off point when clubs would have to accept 2019-20 would not be completed, Barber said: “I think there will be, yes. It would be dishonest to say no.
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“As Tony said, our priority remains completing the season. But also there’s a secondary objective of making sure that we don’t damage next season.
“In order to achieve both, somewhere in the middle there’s going to be a point at which we have to accept that it may not be possible.
“But we’re not there yet. We remain very optimistic and very determined.”
Bloom and Barber’s leadership has put other clubs to shame, but when it comes to solving the conundrum of re-starting the season, they have no magic formula.
Brighton had budgeted to make a loss for the second year running this season. But that loss is set to be significantly higher than they thought Bloom added: “We’ve got one of the lowest player salaries and it’s still a very high number.
“After this situation has resolved I do think football will come together. Because, at the moment, a lot of our football clubs are at risk of not only going into administration but going bust.
“We were all devastated when Bury went out of existence.
“It does need to be looked at as it is unsustainable and it needs something like this crisis to perhaps get across some significant, sustainable change.”
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But discussions about a salary cap will have to wait while football confronts its short-term challenges.
For Brighton, that could still include resuming their battle against relegation.
Bloom said: “We’re two points off the relegation zone but, mentally, when it comes to it, we have to be prepared to play those final nine games.”