Footballers who refuse to return to work should be prepared to give up their wages

The former owner of Crystal Palace, Simon Jordan has just claimed that footballers should take a pay cut if they are afraid to return to work due to the coronavirus crisis, and I couldn’t agree with him more.

I cannot believe that Premier League players who are arguably the highest paid in the world and who have come together to fight against getting pay cuts have concerns about returning to the field.

Some have even claimed that their health and safety aren’t being considered by the Premier League.

This is laughable because most of these players don’t even consider the financial health of their clubs in this tough time.

The truth remains that when workers don’t show up, companies don’t make money and that is one reason companies have been laying off their staff at this time.

If these players are so concerned about their health and that of their family members, I suggest that they also come together and voluntarily forfeit their earnings until it becomes safe for them to return to the field.

It is not rocket science that there would be no money to keep a football club going if the Premier League isn’t on because the players aren’t playing.

At the moment, the most sensible solution might just be a policy of no work, no pay.

Policemen, nurses, caregivers, and 100’s of other industries do not pay staff that refuse to work, so why should footballers be any different?

An article from Ime

Tags Footballers snowflakes

35 Comments

  1. Nurses , police , care workers are essential, football is not .
    The world wouldn’t function without a hospital it would without football
    You will see that most industry’s not crucial.to.daily life are not open , e.g. A cinema , coffee shop , etc
    When they open by law they have to ensure work place is safe
    If an employee says get on with it or your not getting paid that’s against the law
    So all Deeney done is question certain aspects
    As an example , he’s got a baby with breathing problems so your saying not safe to get changed at place of work or shower , too dangerous to hand shirt in to get washed but I have to take the same clothes home ?
    So let’s change football to say Costa and they said too dangerous t take off uniform here , you have to get changed into your clothes away from our premises you have a legal right to question to your manager is it safe to be ?
    Hence why a Costa is not open
    You don’t think there CEO would like.to open with same rules ?

    1. The hundreds of thousands employed in football would cease to function and no one is saying that football returns before the industries you mentioned, they will all most likely return before football does so I am really not sure what your point is Dan. Denney has no asked questions, he has downed tools, simple as that and if his reasons are genuine, which I do not believe, then when will he leave his house? When there is a vaccine? His position is simply untenable in my opinion.

      1. Nope-Sorry AdM but I cannot agree with you at all. Why should Deeney not put his family before everything else? And, in these unprecedented times, should the player be punished for respecting these values? I’m just really disappointed and surprised the PFA have not been more vocal in demanding anders to the very many questions that are still out there. Until the safety of ALL PLAYERS AND STAFF can be guaranteed by their clubs, then the players individually have every right to demand that personal safety is the very first point to be considered. His contract will not, I’m sure, have any clauses to either support him in his decision or punish him for taking this stance. But surely his reasoning is sound and should be respected?

        1. Football isnt important in the great scheme, it is for all in the profession but that goes for all of us. Should Deeney get paid? Thats a good question, should anyone get paid when they dont work? Probably not but we are in times when rules have changed. If i didn’t work i wouldn’t get paid, unless i was furloughed. Would i put my family at risk for money? No i wouldn’t, if there was something that could be done to make me safe, then i could get on with my job. If the job couldn’t be done in a safe environment, then that is a problem. Footballer cant play safely and were protective equipment, so they are not safe. If Deeney was injured he would get paid, is he breaking his contract by not playing because he doesn’t feel its safe? I doubt it. Its a totally different period we are in but ultimately if you are in a position you dont feel safe, you probably aren’t. Deeney and anyone who cant be given protection of some sort, shouldn’t be forced into making a decision like that. Businesses are going to get into financial trouble with all this but that applies to everyone, some will survive, some wont and some will have to change to survive. I meet people every day, myself included who is doing something different to survive and be safe. Maybe Deeney might have to get a job on £10 an hour like me, which is way less than i used to earn.

          1. Excellently put Reggie. It is not safe to play football. It is clear to everyone. And the more obvious fact is clubs can survive without the game while still paying their players. So players should agree on non payment until it is say to play.

    2. What an excellent response in defense of Deneey but where your comment is flawed is comparing football with those industries that you deem not crucial or relevant at the period as the workers in those industries are not getting paid millions for doing nothing and not willing to give a pittance nce our up. I’m of the opinion that football is irrelevant as this moment and we are having this issue because the fa is not ready to do the needful which is cancel the season. If football must continue then players must comply irrespective of which family members are at risk otherwise they should give up their pay until it is safe to play again. There would be some Nurses , police , care workers with family members who are in vulnerable group yet that doesn’t stop them do their job despite earning what these players in a week in a year or years. I quite understand them and will give my support to them if they don’t want to play for theirs or their family members safety but they must give up all their wages.

    3. they are buying up all the medical supplies that are meant to be used for the nurses, docs and etc….for the use of the games

      Sadly football is more important than anyone else

      they have such power because the media and the fans support this

  2. I think its completely fair for players to not be paid if they do not go go work. I dont think it is about the money totally. These guys are given far better preventative measures then halfords of the police doctors and nurses. At one point tests were not available or advised for nhs staff. These guys are being tested regularly before games and have a medical team within the club dedicated to their health.

    If you dont wanna play fine dont get paid. At the end of the day your body is your asset as a footballer agreed. But also it is the clubs asset who will doing everything in their power to look after you nd your 100s of thousands a week.

    Grow some Cojones troy

    1. Totally agree with shortboygooner# – most common sense of anyone. Many of us are expected to go back to work, or certainly work from home, or rely on furlough income; footballers are gettingpaid an absolute fortune, for doing nothing, other than potentially running their clubsinto the ground. They are getting treated like prima-donnas, have the kind of testing and hygiene standards that nhs staff could only dream of, many of them, very young and in good shape, so frankly extremely low risk of virus concerns. Do get that in some instances, such as with Troy, you are concerned about transmission to family members, but in that case no play- no pay. What can he expect, for the club to wait another 12-18 months for a vaccine to arrive and continue to get paid a fortune while doing nothing. He needs to grow up.

  3. AdM- slightly off topic I know but bear with me on this.
    I sit next to my mate in the Stadium and he caught the virus.He was fortunate that by self-isolating at home, he was able to come through unscathed and is now recovered. His best mate, who he works with, was admitted to St Thomas Hospital at the same time as Boris, and is still in there today. He has, over the weeks, been placed on both Life Support Machines and put into a self-induced coma, that’s how desperately I’ll he was. And still is.
    My mate contacted, through a third party, Lee Dixon, to see if he would be prepared to send him a message. What did Lee arrange? Personal video messages of support from
    Lee himself
    David Seaman
    Ian Wright
    Tony Adams
    Berne Leno
    David Luiz
    That just shows the class of this Football Club. If you wish me to forward to you for putting up for anyone to hear for themselves, I would be more than happy to do so. The identity of this person would not be revealed and so no intrusion of his privacy would be exposed.
    Arsenal Football Club. A CLASS ACT.
    And just to let you know, the patient is very very very slowly recovering. It will be a long recuperation but for the very first time in weeks he “seems” to be improving.
    God bless him and ALL NHS workers in this country

    1. The other players to send personal messages were
      Sol Campbell
      Bob Wilson
      Alan Smith
      Micky Thomas
      Ray Parlour

      ONCE A GOONER ALWAYS A GOONER

  4. Well that’s up to them….if they aren’t paid then so be it, but jeez they are human as well, with babies, elderly parents/grandparents etc…what if he went training and caught it and took it home, then what???
    I don’t blame him at all…. and if others come forward with the same concerns regarding at risk family members, they’ll have my backing also….
    I wouldn’t be going to work, that’s for sure!

  5. In my mind they are in no danger. I find it pretty pathetic that some players are so worried about their safety. They will be tested extensively before and it is quite unlikely that you will contract anything from a tackle except for a bruise.

    I’m at more risk doing goddamn grocery shopping for myself and my mother.

    Anyways I think it is fair to refuse to play if you are that worried, but then you should also accept getting no pay. Any PL player should be able to get by without pay for a few months anyways, or I would think they have bigger issues that they should worry about before Corona.

  6. There comes a point that if there is no football then the PL closes down and all the players, coaches, tea ladies, security, cleaners etc lose their jobs – quite possibly permanently. This is what has happened to several well known retail businesses and will no doubt be the beginning of an avalanche of others. There is a real prospect of the economy collapsing. The politicians are in a quandary over the consequences being worse than the disease itself.

    I am using TD as an example, but going forward he may have to find a different form of employment to support himself and his family if he feels that playing football is too dangerous. If others are not worried about the risks then they can continue to draw their salaries, play matches and keep the PL and other leagues afloat.

  7. There is another issue that Simon Jordan raised that seems to have slipped out of the discussion – that being, what would happen if a player caught the virus while playing and then died from it, or, to take it a step further, one of his family died what would be the outcome?

    At the moment,every worker mentioned above must have been given some form of protection, including testing, if they are deemed front line personnel.

    As we know, testing done one day cannot be guaranteed fool proof the next day and if a player was found, after a game, to have been positive, that would mean every single person – players and staff – would have to be in lockdown for 14 days. What happens to the next set of fixtures for these two teams, let alone the personal situation of each person involved.

    As for not playing, that is, essentially, going on strike and I am sure PFA would, at last, get involved, as a registered trade union with over 4,000 members.

    This is is the law as I understand it:

    “As long as YOU are away from your workplace for while your union is on strike you will not be paid by your employer.”

    “Unofficial industrial action :”One has, normally, no right to claim unfair dismissal or wages .”
    “In fact, staff who are involved in unoficial industrial action have no protection at all.”

    1. Ken, Simon Jordan also talked about “corporate manslaughter” a couple of weeks ago if players die by resuming before it is safe to do so. Already 6 have tested positive(what MARTIN calls “ONLY 6”!!!!). A player is certain to die or one of his family if we resume far too soon . Watch football struggling to save its own reputation and even professional existence in the country at large when that certainty(assuming a restart happens)occurs.

      It is irresponsible madness and I WILL HAVE NO PART OF IT. For me, I need daily deaths down to low single fIgures daily at worst and preferably to none, before I THINK IT ETHICAL TO RESUME.

  8. What world are we living in to even be thinking that a premier league player could die from this virus what cowards. It’s a for love sake.

  9. If Troy Deeney has an immediate family member in the vulnerable category then he has no option but to self isolate and not play. He should still be paid and hopefully can come back when things improve. He is in the minority.
    All vulnerable people and those in close contact with them need to self isolate for a while longer.
    The rest of society can cautiously get back to living. It’s sad for the vulnerable people and those who live with them.
    99% of Premier League players will not be living with a vulnerable person. They will also be tested daily.
    Troy’s situation is the exception. 6 out of 700 need to isolate for a short while, then they will be fine to get back to training and playing.

  10. Footballers disgracing themselves again…what’s new?

    So normal folk are back working, and many haven’t even stopped, yet yes poor footballers (who get the best medical treatment going, and will be constantly tested for the virus), want to down tools AND still get paid. What about the thousands that will be making physical contact on the packed tube lines daily? Will they get constantly tested?

    Of course that’s not fair on all footballers, as many want to play again, and this isn’t exclusive to the football industry either.

  11. He has an at risk baby at home!! What else is he supposed to do? Anyone else in the country would do exactly the same, no matter what your line of work is! And he’s not ‘training’, a bit different to not ‘playing’…..he can still work out at home, not the same as training at their facility, but better than nowt! Cut him some slack!

    1. It turns out more of their players aren’t training today, as one of their players and 2 staff members tested positive…

  12. A hypothetical argument.
    Let’s say Auba had a daughther with a respiratory disease, and he said, he wouldn’t play, because he doesn’t want to put her at risk and Arsenal came out an declared, we will not pay you, then.
    I bet this site would be overflowing with posts blaming Kroenke for putting his greed before lives of player’s and families.
    So come on, do you really think any player should be pressurized into putting themselves or their families at risk, purely fir financial reasons???

    1. Exactly! And imagine if Deeney had trained, imagine the uproar then, the same people slaughtering him for not thinking of his son and putting him at risk!!!

    2. Anders, the humane and rational answer to your final sentence question is a resounding NO. Fortunately on this site we have a plethora of humane and respectful comments, with two only taking a contrary view. Gooners will of course draw their own conclusions about how those two latter folk think, I respectfully suggest to all.

  13. I sympathize with Deeney but at the end of the day without football resuming , Clubs can’t simply afford to be paying them their outrageous wages indefinitely until a vaccine is found. What Deeney should have done IMO is resume for work and speak to the management privately about his unique situation not go around giving TV interviews on how it is unsafe for footballers to play.

      1. That Sue, probably contrary to all the defamatory remarks about his decision, is because he is thinking of his family. Not relegation, not himself or not money.

    1. SO HE’S NOT ALLOWED A PUBLIC OPINION , WHEREAS YOU ARE ON HERE! Seems to me there is a hole in your thinking! OR PERHAPS IN YOUR PRINCIPLES, ASSUMING YOU HAVE ANY.

  14. Can’t he stay away from the family till the EPL is concluded? I mean, there are some soldiers who are yet to see their loved ones this year. Or is he the one doing the baby sitting?

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