Chelsea instruct players to support charities rather than imposing pay cut during coronavirus crisis

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Chelsea instruct players to support charities rather than imposing pay cut during coronavirus crisis

Chelsea will not impose a pay cut on their first-team squad but have instead encouraged them to continue supporting charities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Negotiations had been taking place between Blues officials and players about a possible salary reduction of around 10 per cent.

But Chelsea released a statement on Saturday saying they have taken a different approach and encouraged their stars to focus their efforts on other causes.

A statement on the club website said: “Representatives of the Chelsea board have recently held extensive talks with the men’s first team to discuss how they can contribute financially to the club during the coronavirus crisis.

“The objective of these talks has been to find a meaningful partnership around ensuring we preserve jobs for staff, compensate fans and participate in activities for good causes.

“We are grateful to the team for having played their role in assisting the club with community activities as well as all the charitable causes they have been supporting in their respective home countries and through the Players Together initiative supporting the NHS.

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“At this time, the men’s first team will not be contributing towards the club financially and instead the board have directed the team to focus their efforts on further supporting other charitable causes.

“As this crisis develops the club will continue to have conversations with the men’s first team regarding financial contributions to the club’s activities.”

Chelsea also announced they will not be furloughing any of their full-time staff while casual workers and matchday employees are being compensated by the club through to June 30.

Newcastle and Norwich are the only two Premier League clubs using the Government’s job retention scheme for some of their non-playing staff while Liverpool, Tottenham and Bournemouth backtracked on the furlough venture after criticism.