Why are our Playing Staff not helping the Club re cuts ?

[lutonloyal]

I'm very concerned about this.



Our owner took a MAJOR substantial wage deferral backdated to March 1st, in solidarity with all the non playing staff who were put on Furlough leave then - yet I have yet to see anything about our 'honest' playing staff accept ANY wage cuts or deferrals - not even 10%. This despite being asked by the club for help.

It is my understanding and belief that the main culprit in stopping them is the PFA (& I personally believe/suspect, with more than a little help from Agents too).

Questions need to be asked to our Playing Staff - 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?' 

Non playing staff are, the owner is, fans are by renewing Season Tickets - despite not knowing if they are even going to be allowed to attend & watch LTFC for the foreseeable future!

ST money is just about the ONLY cash flow revenue keeping the club going at present, along with minimal online Merchandising and the 'buy a lucky seat' venture.

So Players - Give us a reason why you are not helping us!!!  


I suspect the PFA and that dinosaur Taylor who needs to quit his multi £m package NOW - will use the Roy Keane factor - in as much as ' why should they, let the mega rich owners stem the losses, it's not the players fault this crisis has occurred'

What's the thoughts of fellow Ltfcfool's on this matter? 

SHOULD the Players help too - or are they above that? 

[8two]

First teamers then categorically yes and obviously as a percentage. Can't believe that Frankie or Isted for example would be on much anyway. Those shortly out of contract who believe that they will not be retained perhaps understadably are reluctant.

[Wimbo]

May 6, 2020 16:51:32 GMT lutonloyal said:

I'm very concerned about this.



Our owner took a MAJOR substantial wage deferral backdated to March 1st, in solidarity with all the non playing staff who were put on Furlough leave then - yet I have yet to see anything about our 'honest' playing staff accept ANY wage cuts or deferrals - not even 10%. This despite being asked by the club for help.

It is my understanding and belief that the main culprit in stopping them is the PFA (& I personally believe/suspect, with more than a little help from Agents too).

Questions need to be asked to our Playing Staff - 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?' 

Non playing staff are, the owner is, fans are by renewing Season Tickets - despite not knowing if they are even going to be allowed to attend & watch LTFC for the foreseeable future!

ST money is just about the ONLY cash flow revenue keeping the club going at present, along with minimal online Merchandising and the 'buy a lucky seat' venture.

So Players - Give us a reason why you are not helping us!!!  


I suspect the PFA and that dinosaur Taylor who needs to quit his multi £m package NOW - will use the Roy Keane factor - in as much as ' why should they, let the mega rich owners stem the losses, it's not the players fault this crisis has occurred'

What's the thoughts of fellow Ltfcfool's on this matter? 

SHOULD the Players help too - or are they above that? 

Al do we know how widespread the "won't take a pay cut" is across all 92 clubs? Do we know of any clubs where the players have agreed to take a pay cut?

In my view, players right through the leagues should all take a significant pay cut or they may well find that their employer ain't around any more in a few months time.

[bms]

A Google of ‘furlough for footballers‘, and a quick read of the first five or six items, (ranging from the Premier League to a great contribution from a Scottish player soon to be out of contract) soon gives you a taste of the complexity of this issue.

Quite what the precise situation is for our players and club, I don’t know but I can see where Loyal is coming from. We all consider GS to be the best possible custodian of our club so I’m sure he is working on this as well as many other things.
Has the club issued any statements with regard this sensitive issue?

www.google.co.uk/search?q=furlough+for+footballers&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

[proudhattersince74]

Gary Sweet explained in one interview that he didn't feel the players should be furloughed because they were still training and keeping fit (even in isolation). Effectively, they were doing exactly what professional sportsmen are paid for ... except, obviously, the bit about taking part in competitive matches.

I found his take on this quite interesting as other owners were foisting furloughs onto their playing staff to keep a lid on outgoings and yet expected them to be listening to their own coaches/trainers/fitness gurus and following individual fitness/nutrition programmes - basically doing much the same as happens on a training pitch.

Fully agree with Loyal's thoughts about agents and PFA help (yes, I did type "help" after "PFA") and cannot disagree with a comment I read elsewhere about Gordon Taylor's organisation: they are supposed to be there for the benefit of current and past professional footballers and their not insubstantial accumulated funds over many, many years sits in a bank (or under Taylor's mattress) for a rainy day ... well this IS the bloody rainy day!

Why haven't they offered to help the truly struggling clubs to achieve medium/long term survival (and thus their members' employment) by assisting with payments to players? The number of full time professionals will be drastically reduced without any financial help to the smaller clubs but the PFA can only ever see 10 yards in front of them and don't seem to know what's happening at the other end of the pitch!

Whether our players can afford to take a pay cut is debatable as we are supposedly paying L1 wages, not Championship level wages. I am surprised, though, that our five loanees haven't already exited stage left as they would be the top salaries earners. The season should have finished last weekend but they haven't returned to their parent clubs (as far as we know). I'm more concerned about what those loanees are costing our club than why our own players haven't accepted a cut in their wages.

Quite a few of our owned players are OOC shortly so I can understand whey they wouldn't take a pay cut with such an uncertain future.


There's a massive reset coming to football but contracts already in place will probably have to be honoured (unless the club goes pop). The unfortunate ones are those that are OOC in a few weeks as the drop in their wages will be significant. Clubs will have to factor in BCDF and make contingency for football to be suspended again in the near future.

[hatterinSW19]

There's also the question, I guess, of how their pay is structured; if it's a relatively low basic, with appearance bonuses, goal bonuses, clean sheet bonuses, win bonuses, anything-else bonuses, none of which they'll be getting at the moment, then they may be experiencing quite a drop already. I have no clue how this works out in reality, but we all know how much GS likes a good add-on in a contract...

[bernardshakey]

The loan players may not be costing us that much, depends how much of their wage the loaning club are paying. I think O'Kane is on loan until the end of next season.

[lutonloyal]

It is my understanding that loanees wages are paid by the clubs who we loaned them from. O'Kane from Leeds for definite - his salary alone is something ludicrous around £17.5k a WEEK!


I think that the silence from the club on this matter proves that our 'honest' first team squad are unwilling to be helpful in this matter. Although I DO blame Taylor/PFA and the part Agents are playing in this.

[melbournehatter]

I find it perplexing and humourous to read articles and discussions about players wages - or more importantly, how much they are paid. Wages being only a part of what they are paid, there are all the bonuses as SW19 pointed out.
According to articles the average wage in the Premier League is $US3.5million per year. But according to another article Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) is on $US1.8million per month. I guess he is no where near the best paid, so there must be some not getting much at all -- comparatively!

So on to LTFC. Loyal says that O'Kane's salary is around 17.5k Quid per week (Australian keyboards do not have the GBP symbol) - would love Loyal to advise where he got this info!!!

And why can a paper disclose what Ozil is earning, but not what Matty Pearson (for example) is earning? Why is it secret? (they are not questions for Loyal


Loyal also asks of our playing staff - 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?'

This after his statement 'yet I have yet to see anything about our 'honest' playing staff accept ANY wage cuts or deferrals - not even 10%'

So on the one hand he says he hasn't heard ANYTHING. But then asks why players are not doing anything?
So the obvious question Loyal --- How do you know they are 'refusing to play YOUR [sic} part?'

I also laugh at the drama surrounding transfer fees! The papers gloat, the supporters moan, and non football followers say 'WTF' when we hear that XXX FC has just paid Umpteen hundred million pounds for footballeer Billy Blogs.
Yet when we sell James Justin to Leicester it cannot be reported!!! He is sold 'for an undisclosed record fee'! Was it that much more than the umpteen hundred million???
Why does it have to be kept secret?

It is all a friggin joke.

And until and unless you can back up your statements/questions etc, then maybe they should be prefixed by 'rhetorical question .... why won't our players accept a wage cut?"

[melbournehatter]

In response to Loyal's question -- 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?'

1. because I don't have to.
2. because I have a contract saying I will be paid.
3. because there is no clause in my contract saying I should take a pay cut.
4. how do you know I am not?

[tassie]

£ £ £ £ Melbourne ! ! Smiling Tassie !

[melbournehatter]

Were did you find that??

[Wimbo]

May 7, 2020 10:28:40 GMT melbournehatter said:

In response to Loyal's question -- 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?'

1. because I don't have to.
2. because I have a contract saying I will be paid.
3. because there is no clause in my contract saying I should take a pay cut.
4. how do you know I am not?

1. because I don't have to. Quite possibly but there again I suspect that some clubs may have real difficulties surviving & players on a long contract may not have a club to return to: I am talking any club in general and not specifically Luton.
2. because I have a contract saying I will be paid. As above for 1 plus lots of staff in the UK on very high wages are taking anything upwards of a temporary 20% pay cut: here I refer to senior managers: source is stock exchange announcements.
3. because there is no clause in my contract saying I should take a pay cut. As 2 above but sense suggests for sustainability that a temporary reduction could make sense. I say could as SW19 rightly says we don't know the elements that come together to make the total wage.
4. how do you know I am not? In an interview, GS said as a throwaway "now I have to persuade the players to take a pay cut".


Just my thoughts in italic above but like so many things in football, we don't know for definite. Incidentally, I think there is an argument for disclosing transfer fees; I am sure the tax-man knows so why can't the supporters who buy their season ticket for a disclosed amount get to know. I am sure before Sky bought football that clubs used to disclose fees i.e £17.5k if I remember for a certain left back from Fulham who netted a few goals for us a good few years ago.

[lutonloyal]

May 7, 2020 10:26:14 GMT melbournehatter said:

I find it perplexing and humourous to read articles and discussions about players wages - or more importantly, how much they are paid. Wages being only a part of what they are paid, there are all the bonuses as SW19 pointed out.
According to articles the average wage in the Premier League is $US3.5million per year. But according to another article Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) is on $US1.8million per month. I guess he is no where near the best paid, so there must be some not getting much at all -- comparatively!

So on to LTFC. Loyal says that O'Kane's salary is around 17.5k Quid per week (Australian keyboards do not have the GBP symbol) - would love Loyal to advise where he got this info!!!

And why can a paper disclose what Ozil is earning, but not what Matty Pearson (for example) is earning? Why is it secret? (they are not questions for Loyal


Loyal also asks of our playing staff - 'Why in these desperate times are you refusing to play YOUR part?'

This after his statement 'yet I have yet to see anything about our 'honest' playing staff accept ANY wage cuts or deferrals - not even 10%'

So on the one hand he says he hasn't heard ANYTHING. But then asks why players are not doing anything?
So the obvious question Loyal --- How do you know they are 'refusing to play YOUR [sic} part?'

I also laugh at the drama surrounding transfer fees! The papers gloat, the supporters moan, and non football followers say 'WTF' when we hear that XXX FC has just paid Umpteen hundred million pounds for footballeer Billy Blogs.
Yet when we sell James Justin to Leicester it cannot be reported!!! He is sold 'for an undisclosed record fee'! Was it that much more than the umpteen hundred million???
Why does it have to be kept secret?

It is all a friggin joke.

And until and unless you can back up your statements/questions etc, then maybe they should be prefixed by 'rhetorical question .... why won't our players accept a wage cut?"

No need to get your knickers in a twist.

My post was a QUESTION not a threat!

Is it not BLATANTLY obvious why I cannot reveal my THOUGHTS in public on the matter?

Trust me, if my op question was without any basis, the club would have come down on me like a ton of bricks by now.

I would have had ALL SORTS of messages telling me to delete it.

Just to let you know - I HAVE NOT HAD ONE!



A) It's been nearly 24 hours now and I have also posted these same questions on Social Media LTFC Facebook Fan Groups early this morning.

B) Not a single word of condemnation from LTFC to me, or telling me to delete my posts. 

You are entitled to your OPINION Melbourne - as I am mine!

Let's put it another simpler way - in the Poll I asked on Facebook Today.

Easy - Yes/No

1) Do you think the LTFC 1st team playing squad should help the club in this serious cash crisis by taking a wage pay cut/deferral?

2) Do you think they shouldn't - as it's not their fault? 

A Yes or No answer will suffice thank you. 





 

[flathatter]

Yes