SEAN DYCHE has blasted Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s remarks about footballers as a “massive generalisation”.
Hancock called on Premier League players to give up a percentage of their wages to help the battle against coronavirus.
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Sean Dyche has told Matt Hancock to back off after demanding more from PL stars in the fight against coronavirus
Yet Burnley boss Dyche reckons many are already helping out and should not be pressured into giving more – echoing Gary Neville who slammed the “f***ing cheek” of the Health Secretary.
He told talkSPORT: “Players do their bit. I know for a fact individual players are already doing stuff from their own pocket, for different situations, as are a lot of people.
“If they’d done all that and someone comes in and says they are taking more, they’ll say, ‘Hang on a minute…’ You have to be careful.
“A lot of people are giving a lot at the moment. Whether it’s time, energy, effort, money, we are all behind the NHS in hopefully making this go away.
“It’s such a massive generalisation for Matt Hancock to throw that in. I watched his comments, I hope he was ill-informed.
“People must remember, footballers pay vast amounts of tax. We all do.
“It’s fine, not a problem. But behind that, everyone has their own version of responsibility.”
Dyche believes many people in the game are already involved in charity work — but do not seek to publicise it.
Matt Hancock warned Premier League players needed to do their bit last week
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
He said: “It’s hard to say, ‘You should be doing this or that’. They don’t know what people are doing.
“Myself, I give money to Kidney Research UK — I do it for private reasons. I feel the need to tell people, ‘I do more than you think I do’.
“I’ve been in football all my life and I’ve seen footballers do so many good things: financially, with time and care, effort, attention.
“There are lots of people doing loads of good things for various charities.
“If a player chooses to put in whatever they think can help at this moment, it’s entirely up to them. Everyone should have the freedom to choose.”
Dyche also understands why players want to make sure any cash they donate goes to the right place. He said: “People have asked, ‘Where is that money going? Into the system?’.
“Actually, it’s not. It’s going into the clubs, to push furlough back as far as they can.
“It’s a misconception that it’s going out there to help the country, to help fight coronavirus.
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“It’s actually taking money from the system, as was brought up in the conference call and the PFA. It could be about £200million for tax purposes.
“Is it cuts? Is it deferrals? Where does that money go?
“The PFA pointed out if the club, the company who own it, can afford to do the right thing then they should do the right thing.”
Matt Hancock calls on footballers to donate wages to struggling hospices
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
