In a latest move that’s not totally unexpected to counter the financially debilitating causal effects of the rampant coronavirus pandemic, Hearts owner Ann Budge has announced that all players and staff across the board have been asked to take a 50% wage slash. The Tynecastle club owner also added that Hearts will be ‘continuously reviewing the situation’ pending the development and status of the coronavirus situation.
The drastic cost-cutting decision has been made amid escalating realistic financial fears and a statement was released on Wednesday evening: “In order to try to prevent a staff redundancy programme and to protect as many jobs as possible, I am proposing to implement a club-wide salary reduction programme.
“We have asked all full-time employees, managers, coaches, players and player back-room staff, with effect from the beginning of April, to accept a 50% cut in their monthly salary.
“Staff and players alike, who feel unable or unwilling to accept this revision to their contracts, will, of course, be offered the option of contract termination.”
There were two more additional caveats: “No-one’s full-time salary will fall below the living wage,” continued Budge. “In other words, if the 50% reduction would take anyone’s salary below this threshold, the full-time salary will be set at £18,135.
“Given the uncertainty of the whole situation with which we have been presented, we cannot say how long these measures will be in place. We will, of course, be continuously reviewing the situation.”
From a management point of view, this would of course be deemed a prudent and probably necessary action for football clubs to take as the financial burdens can be crippling for any club to bear as the coronavirus pandemic brazenly sweeps across the globe with the World Health Organization citing Europe now as the new centre of the epidemic.
It would be most interesting to see what the players in particular have to say about such a drastic albeit expedient measure.