At the end of March, Premier League leaders Liverpool announced their intention to furlough some non-playing staff along with fellow Premier League giant Tottenham Hotspur.
AFC Bournemouth had also intended to use the government’s job retention scheme for non-playing staff employees, alongside an announcement that AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, assistant manager Jason Tindall, first-team technical director Richard Hughes and chief executive Neill Blake had all taken significant, voluntary pay cuts.
AFC Bournemouth announced this measure had been taken “to safeguard the financial stability of the club during what is such an uncertain period, not only in football but for businesses in all industries across the world.”
However, the announcement by Premier League clubs to use the government’s job retention scheme received a lot of bad press from the British media and supporters via social media. Particularly the big clubs such as Liverpool and Tottenham and this week they decided to make a u-turn and not use the scheme.
Despite AFC Bournemouth having a vastly different financial model to Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, AFC Bournemouth have also decided against using the scheme.
A statement released on afcb.co.uk read…
“…earlier this month we announced that a number of staff at AFC Bournemouth were being temporarily furloughed, and that we would utilise the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
These measures were not taken lightly, given the operational pressures placed on clubs in such uncertain times.
However well-placed our intentions were, we are aware of criticisms levelled at Premier League clubs applying for this scheme.
We have listened to our supporters and have reversed our decision to furlough these employees.
We, as a board of directors, will ensure that the club can continue to operate while the season is suspended, and we will not be applying for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme…”
Your say…
SlowDownDerek wrote…
It’s about the image of the game. The game relies on popularity with its punters and has to be seen to be doing the right thing more so than any other industry. A football club has been likened to the new religion – minute’s silence to pay respects to the dead, charitable work in the community, political activism among supporters groups. There have been countless campaigns at all manor of clubs including our own which involved asking regular Joe’s for cash to ensure its survival.
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