West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady has criticised PFA chief Gordon Taylor’s response to the coronavirus crisis, but admits “you can’t manage an apocalypse”.
Taylor faced criticism after refusing to take a cut to his £2 million a year salary, though he did reportedly make a £500,000 donation to the cause.
Premier League players have taken it upon themselves to set up the #PlayersTogether fund for NHS charities, but the debate over potential wage cuts or referrals continues.
“We have the players’ union chief executive Gordon Taylor stubbornly resisting collective reaction to football’s Covid-19 crisis,” Brady wrote in The Sun.
“I wonder why? Surely it is in the interests of his members from the elite to the everyday that as many clubs as possible remain intact. Keeping players’ jobs is one of his duties.
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“Some have, rather nastily, suggested that it’s because his annual salary is a union world record £2.3m, which gives him earning power a 75-year-old working man can only dream of and he would face losing his ever-lasting job should he fail to replicate the contribution of his top players in his own wage packet.
“I don’t think this can be right as he has already said he is stepping down and has donated £500k of his own money to the cause.
“Taylor’s no-cuts, no-deferral decision is deeply harmful to the cause he professes to serve, and now each club is having to have their own conversations with their own players.
“This will result in different outcomes for each club. Some clubs will defer/cut more than others, which seems unfair.”
Brady had a stark warning for Premier League clubs as the suspension of fixtures continues.
“If this suspension goes on for months, eventually there will be grasping for any straws to try to prevent many more clubs from drowning,” she said.
“The prospect of this possibility is the reason why I have cut my own salary by 30 per cent, just as our manager David Moyes has.
“We continue to work through all the questions and queries — the ifs, the buts, the maybes.
“But one thing I know is that if you try managing an apocalypse you can’t.
“You must have the foresight to plan for when things will return to normal, whatever “normal” will mean in the future.”