ROY KEANE BELIEVES Premier League players should “stick to their guns” when it comes to pay cuts.
There have been calls for footballers plying their trade in England’s top flight to take a 30% wage reduction on their eye-watering salaries during the Covid-19 pandemic, with global sport currently suspended.
While that suggestion was met by opposition from the players, Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson is spearheaded a new ‘Players Together’ initiative, which has been set up to aid the UK’s NHS and associated charities.
Ex-Man United and Ireland captain Keane has sympathy for Premier League players, and says he wouldn’t agree to less money if he was still playing at one of the world’s richest clubs.
“There is pressure on players at the really big clubs, clubs with wealthy owners, to take pay cuts,” he told The Football Show on Sky Sports this morning.
“The way I look at it now, particularly after the way I left Manchester United, I wouldn’t take a pay cut from anybody if I was at one of the bigger clubs.
“I know there is pressure on players, but it is nobody’s business what you do with your wages. You take your wages and if you want to be generous, go ahead and do it. I don’t think players should feel pressured by clubs, particularly the bigger clubs, to take pay cuts.
“They have signed a contract, and your contract with a club is a personal matter. This idea that all players should take a pay cut, or that all the players have to do this, I think that is nonsense. It’s up to the individual.
If they want to stick to their guns and say they want their full wages when you’ve got a billionaire in the background, do it. Don’t be swayed by some sort of pressure from the media, who write lies anyway about certain players.
“There is a lot of speculation out there, I don’t think anybody should believe anything they are reading about what players are doing. I am really surprised at the amount of people jumping on the bandwagon with the criticism of the players, it’s nobody’s business.
“I’m talking about the top clubs here with the really wealthy owners, obviously the clubs in the owner leagues are having to make sacrifices, but the players at the top at clubs that have the money, stick to your guns.”
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