Tottenham cut pay of non-playing staff by 20% due to coronavirus

LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur have imposed a 20% pay cut on 550 non-playing staff in April and May due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Premier League club said on Tuesday.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said in a statement the move was to protect jobs and the club planned to use a government furlough scheme where appropriate.

He hoped also that talks between the Premier League and players' and managers' associations would result in players and coaches "doing their bit for the football eco system."

"When I read or hear stories about player transfers this summer like nothing has happened, people need to wake up to the enormity of what is happening around us," said Levy.

"With over 786,000 infected, (over) 38,000 deaths and large segments of the world in lockdown we need to realise that football cannot operate in a bubble.

"We may be the eighth largest club in the world by revenue according to the Deloitte survey but all that historical data is totally irrelevant as this virus has no boundaries."

Levy said the North London club’s operations had effectively ceased, some fans had lost their jobs and sponsors were concerned about their businesses.

Meanwhile Tottenham still had an annual cost base running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

Other major European clubs have also moved to reduce their costs with countries in lockdown to combat the spread of the virus.

Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus are among those to have cut player and staff wages to reduce costs.

"I have no doubt we will get through this crisis but life will take some time to get back to normal," said Levy.

"Many families will have lost loved ones, many businesses will have been destroyed, millions of jobs lost and many clubs whether big or small may struggle to exist.

"It is incumbent on me as chairman to ensure we do everything we can to protect our employees, our fans, our partners, our club for future generations."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)