According to Jacob Steinberg writing in the Guardian ‘West Ham are hopeful their players will accept a proposal to defer their wages after Southampton’s squad agreed to go without 10% of their pay for the next three months to ensure non-playing staff receive their salaries in full’
West Ham have a payroll of over £2.6m per week or £10.4m peer month and are worried they might not be able to pay out the May’s payroll without some kind of intervention before then.
The directors are looking at a rights issues worth £30m in May and may get a multi-million advance from the Premier League but it won’t put a dent in their predicted £60m-£80m cash flow shortfall.
A 10% deferment of players wages could save the Hammers over £3m over the next 3 months while a 30% deferment would save £9m over the same period.
Despite the announcement of the Players Together initiative yesterday, club owners are still hopeful that agreements on deferments with players can still be agreed to aid with cash flow issues facing all clubs.
At the end of the day, if you are living in a lockdown situation, add up your personal expenses, and a few bits and pieces to get you and your family through the next 3 months, then you ask a player the same, and then ask that same player how much he has over and above what Joe average has, maybe, just maybe the players will realise that although there are thousands of invisible people earning more, everyone is looking at them.