PREMIER LEAGUE clubs have been threatened with a windfall tax if they do not cut player wages during the coronavirus pandemic.
The chair of the influential Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak demanding teams who fail to slash salaries of their stars but put other staff on furlough to be punished by Government levies in the future.
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Daniel Levy pocketed a £7m bonus on the same day he sent staff home on furlough leave
Julian Knight has labelled the moves by Tottenham and Newcastle to use taxpayer money to pay their staff while leaving player wages untouched as “obscene”.
And he has demanded Sunak sets a deadline of April 7 for those deals to be cut or the top flight sides could see an extra windfall tax being imposed on their revenues.
Knight, MP for Solihull, said: “We are facing an obscene situation where top players who aren’t working are continuing to see hundreds of thousands of pounds roll in each week while the staff who keep the clubs going are losing wages.
“If the Premier League isn’t going to act to resolve this crisis then the Government must step in by imposing a significant financial penalty on clubs to reimburse those hit hardest in the pocket.
“That’s why I have written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak today demanding that Premier League clubs do the right thing by Tuesday next week or face the consequences.”
‘SPURS MORALLY WRONG’
In a scathing letter to the Treasury, Knight wrote: “I am writing to express my strong dismay at certain Premier League clubs’ decision to furlough non-playing staff while continuing to pay players.
“This two-tier system is morally wrong, especially given the extremely high wages paid to players.
“The purpose of the coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is not to support the economics of Premier League clubs, who should play their part in dealing with this crisis and set a good example.
“If PL clubs insist on maintaining this current two-tier strategy, they should face sanctions.
“I would like to propose that, if this action is not taken by next Tuesday (April 7), HMT consider, in due course, imposing a windfall tax to PL clubs to recover a substantial proportion of the money that clubs are paying to players.
“This could be used to reimburse non-playing staff, and/or to fund grassroots football (including non-League and women’s football) during these difficult times.”
Knight sent an almost identically worded letter to Premier League chief-executive Richard Masters, making it clear the game’s bosses have a week to sort things or face the consequences.
Newcastle were the first club to put non-playing staff in furlough, followed by Tottenham, Bournemouth and Norwich.
Since then Norwich have announced the players and management team have agreed to cut in wages to cover the costs of staff, while Eddie Howe and his Bournemouth coaches have also volunteered a pay cut.
But the Cherries, Spurs and Newcastle players currently continue to receive full pay while Premier League, EFL and the PFA attempt to reach an agreement.
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David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, was scathing in his criticism.
He tweeted: “It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals.
“And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidise cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
