Former Tottenham chairman Alan Sugar has hit out at Premier League players who have been reluctant to take wage cuts, saying he fears many clubs won't be able to survive without them.
The Premier League has been shut down for more than a month as the coronavirus pandemic continues on, with no clarity yet as to when play will be able to return.
As clubs continue to lose money from a lack of games, Sugar has expressed his concern for the future of the league he helped form in 1992.
“There’s a lot of problems ahead for the Premier League,” Sugar told the Associated Press. “There’s no question of that. I think the situation is dire.”
There has been much debate as to how players can do their part to help, with Premier League players rejecting an across-the-board 30 per cent wage cut last week.
Next Match
Players expressed their concern that a wage cut would return money to their clubs but would not fund essential organisations that are on the front lines fighting the coronavirus crisis.
Instead this week, Premier League players launched the "Players Together" initiative, which will donate funds to National Health Service charities in an effort to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
Sugar, however, believes that more must be done to help clubs – many of whom he says do not have a large surplus of cash available.
“Some clubs just simply can’t afford it,” Sugar said. “They work from hand to mouth. I know it sounds ridiculous, but they spend every single penny they can on player transfers and player wages and they rely upon the income coming in to pay their bills ... and if you stop the income coming in, then where are they going to get the money from?"
“You need to ask the players to help to support their clubs like they have done at Real Madrid,” Sugar added, with the Blancos recently confirming their players will take wage cuts of up to 20%.
West Ham and Southampton's players have offered some relief to their clubs, with those two sides the first in the Premier League to confirm wage deferrals for players.
Sugar has also defended current Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, who has been criticised for his decision to utilise the government's coronavirus furlough scheme on his non-playing staff.
Liverpool announced they would do the same, only to reverse course after being heavily criticised for using public funds.
“Tottenham have got a lot of criticism there about Daniel Levy putting people on furlough,” Sugar said. “I don’t understand the logic. Why? Because he’s a company. They are a company. They’ve got 500 non-playing staff … it’s no different to anyone else.
"No different to say Topshop or one of these massive great big clothing retailers that have had to shut down. Liverpool kind of caved in under pressure.”