Financial matters continue to dominate the F.A. Premier League Clubs response to the coronavirus epidemic. In particular two Premier London derbies (PLDs) Clubs are in the news, North London’s The Arsenal F.C. and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.. As usual they are doing things differently.
Arsenal are showing the way with players and management staff pay reductions, led by Head Coach Mikel Arteta whose £5 million a year salary will reduce by 20% to £4 million. The players have agreed to a 12.5% reduction, for instance £43,750 off Mesut Ozil’s weekly £350,000, until March 2021. Agreed in principal that is with the Club, but against the current advice of the Professional Footballers Association (P.F.A.). There are some well thought out caveats to the proposed deal: that the players will be repaid all their money plus a £100,000 bonus if they qualified for the 2020-21 Champions League; just the reduction if they were to qualify for the same competition in 2021-22 season; and the reduction would only be 7.5% if they qualify for the Europa League this season 2019-2020. In an earlier blog we projected Arsenal’s form for the first 9 games of the second half of this season to show they could potentially reach 6th place and therefore qualify for the Europa League.
The Covid-19 epidemic is beginning to bring some new realities to football finance and players contracts. In Scotland the Scottish Professional Football League (S.P.F.L.) have a “force majeure” clause in their contracts which make pay reduction and deferment negotiations much easier to carry out. Shall we see such a thing in future F.A.P.L. and English Football League (E.F.L.) players contracts? Should future pay deals be much more performance pay related as Arsenal’s suggested deal appears to be? Currently basic pay makes up 75% of pay with bonuses for appearances. wins, goals scored, and team performance making up the total up to 100%. Shall we see the basic fraction falling to say 66%, so if no matches no bonuses and overall lower pay. Basic pay becomes a retainer fee,
Meanwhile over in N17 there has been a change of heart (described by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust as showing maturity and humility) by the Spurs’ Board, withdrawing from the Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) following considerable public and supporter anger. Liverpool F.C. have done the same in response tosimilar pressure. All 550 Spurs’ non-playing staff will now receive full pay for April and May. Spurs will for once hope to be in harmony with Arsenal if they can achieve a similar pay deal if only for their Head Coaches past and present since it appears that they are still duty bound to pay Mauricio Pochettino £8.5 million a year to 2023 unless he works elsewhere, as well as Jose Mourinho’s reported £12 million annually! No one said football was cheap!
Until next time keep safe and well, and thank you if you are a worker, Andrew at PLDs.