Successive excuses and justifications that failure to reduce wages will allow greater amounts of taxes to be paid, thus the English Football Association and the Association of Professional Footballers have resorted, over the past days, to finding a way to reject the English Premier League proposal on reducing player salaries by 30%, To alleviate the financial and economic burdens resulting from the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
But this maneuvering on behalf of the players seemed shameful, as described by a report by "Bloomberg" news agency, stressing that it reflected badly on the most prominent modern cultural exports in Britain, which are represented in the English Premier League, Britain's most important football competitions, where this tournament is watched about 3.2 One billion people around the world.
Meanwhile, the stars of Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentine Lionel Messi did a great embarrassment for the Premier League stars.
The Football Workers Syndicate said that reducing player wages would deprive the UK Treasury of more than 200 million pounds ($ 246 million) of income. This is true based on the country's highest tax rate of 45%, and what is spent on Premier League players ’salaries each year, at 1.5 billion pounds.
However, the union has failed to take into account the potential cost of taxpayers from other club workers.
Calculations show that the government will cost about 200 million pounds sterling, if all 20 clubs in the Premier League in England take refuge by granting leave to employees who are not part of the soccer team.
And of course, a 30% cut in wages and postponements discussed by the Premier League will further reduce club costs (by over £ 400m this year).
Some of the players contribute to the battle against the "Corona" epidemic, and there is a move led by Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, leader of the English Premier League, to establish a charity. But the proposal to reduce the star's salary by the League seems like an easy way for players to show their understanding of the seriousness of the situation.
For example, 30% of a player with an average salary of 2.3 million pounds a year can cover the income of the families of 24 employees who work in other regular jobs. In spite of this, the players appear to be responsible in other places in Europe.
In Spain, for example, Barcelona players, the soccer's highest wage difference team, voluntarily agreed to a 70% cut in wages to cover the salaries of other employees, after an initiative from team star Lionel Messi.
The Argentine striker, Lionel Messi, Barcelona and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus striker, is acting as an example and an ideal, as both are supposed to act, as the most prominent stars in this generation. Ronaldo has also agreed to reduce his annual salary with the Juve by more than 3 million euros.
There is an argument that clubs should absorb some costs themselves. Both Tottenham and Newcastle switched their employees to the "temporary work profile" system so that employees receive 80 percent of their salaries from the government, despite the wealth of the owners of both clubs.
The wealth of businessman Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham, who lives in the Bahamas, is $ 5.3 billion, according to the "Bloomberg" list of billionaires. Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has a fortune of $ 2.4 billion. The financial liquidity of each of them is more than one billion dollars.
Also, the payment of wages for employees who are not participating in the team will not affect the club's position in the lists of fair financial play, in which the focus is on spending on the club's first team.