Premier League leaders Liverpool have apologised and reversed their earlier decision of furloughing their non-football staff after coming under heavy criticism.
Last weekend, the Premier League side announced their decision to furlough their non-playing staff due to football shutdown in the UK.
It would mean that the British government would have paid 80% of the wages then the club would cater for the remaining 20%.
The decision faced heavy criticism from former Liverpool players including ex-defender Jamie Carragher and ex-striker Stan Collymore.
Carragher tweeted: ’’Jurgen Klopp showed compassion for all at the start of this pandemic, senior players heavily involved in Premier League players taking wage cuts. Then all that respect and goodwill is lost – poor this, LFC.’’
Jurgen Klopp showed compassion for all at the start of this pandemic, senior players heavily involved in @premierleague players taking wage cuts. Then all that respect & goodwill is lost, poor this @LFC https://t.co/9bE8Rw1veE
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) April 4, 2020
Collymore posted on social media: ‘’ I don’t know of any Liverpool fan of any standing that won’t be anything other than disgusted at the club for furloughing staff. It’s just plain wrong.’’
Liverpool Chief Executive Peter Moore wrote an open letter to the fans apologizing and admitted they made a wrong decision.
A letter from Peter Moore to Liverpool supporters https://t.co/vbqYRienRl
— Peter Moore (@PeterMooreLFC) April 6, 2020
‘’We believe we came to the wrong conclusion last week to announce that we intended to apply the Coronavirus retention scheme and furlough staff due to the suspension of the Premier League football calendar, and are truly sorry for that.’’ Read part of the letter.
‘’Our intentions were, and still are, to ensure the entire workforce is given as much protection as possible from redundancy and/loss of earnings during this unprecedented period.
‘’We are therefore committed to finding alternative ways to operate while there are no football matches being played that ensures that we are not applying for the government relief scheme.
‘’But in the spirit of transparency, we must also be clear, despite the fact that we are in a healthy position prior to this crisis, our revenues have been shut off yet our outgoings remain. And like almost every sector of society, there is great uncertainty and concern over our present and the future.
‘’Like any responsible employer concerned for its workers in the current situation, the club continues to prepare for a range of different scenarios, around when football can return to operating as it did before the pandemic.
‘’These scenarios range from the best to the worst and everything in between. We are engaged in the process of exploring avenues within our scope to limit inevitable damage.’’
