EFL rivals privately critical of Leeds for behind-the-scenes financial decision – report
Leeds United were roundly praised for their decision to defer staff and player wages for the foreseeable football – however not everyone was impressed.
We have seen Premier League clubs like Tottenham decide to furlough non-playing staff during the coronavirus-enforced suspension of football and that has – rightly – been widely blasted by the public.
However Leeds were one of the first clubs to announce that their players had agreed to take indefinite pay cuts and deferrals in their wages until football was back to normal.
Understandably, fans were full of praise for Leeds when they did that but according to a report by The Athletic, senior officials at rival EFL clubs were “privately critical of them for acting alone”.
Different clubs in the Championship have different financial situations and simply deferring the wages and issuing pay cuts for some players and staff members wouldn’t help their bank balance during this difficult time.
You have a team at the top who can get by with their players not earning as much money as they did when matches were being played. But then you have teams at the bottom who might need to think about furloughing players and staff members to ensure they do not risk financial ruin.
We can understand why clubs would want unity but there is such a disproportionate spread of wealth in the EFL that all clubs are going to have to do things differently.
In other Leeds United news, fans have been raving about this Championship tweet about Kalvin Phillips.