Tottenham make U-turn on decision to furlough staff after fans' fierce criticism - MW

Tottenham Hotspur overturned its decision for non-employed footballers to follow the government's plan and acknowledged pressure from the supporter to force them to change their decision.

The Spurs sparked outrage two weeks before announcing their intention to seek government funding to keep government work on coronaviruses and to attract their non-playing staff. While other Premier League clubs followed, pressure from supporters then forced Liverpool to change their minds. Now Tottenham has also canceled the idea, with the guarantee that the 550 non-player employees will be paid in full until the end of May.

In a statement posted via its website, the club said: We are fully aware that many supporters have opposed our decision regarding the staff.

Indeed, we have also seen fan opposition to other Premier League clubs reaching out to CJRS. This underlines once again that we are under different pressures on other companies, many of which have requested and will continue to seek program support as the government wishes.

In the opinion of proponents of this program, we do not intend to use the current CJRS to operate until the end of May. We will be consulting with stakeholders, including supporters of Tottenham Hotspur [NST], who we spoke to last week and who share a desire to protect the work of them, if circumstances change.

Supporters of Trust have been commended for the important but constructive manner in which they approach the issue with the club. In response to this news, the THST Board of Directors said it was delighted that employees who did not play now receive full wages.

The club needs maturity and modesty to overturn such a controversial and public decision and we are pleased that, rather than doubling, the club board listened to the fans on this occasion. This and finally the right. No organization will succeed in these unprecedented situations and the end result is important.

We are delighted that the club has no staff and we thank the club directors for finding another way to move forward. This is the first step, but a big step forward, to restore the relationship between the fans and the club.

The THST and the Spirit of Shankly, a group of supporters suspected of influencing the change in Liverpool, both have permanent representatives on their club's board of directors.

Tottenham President Daniel Levy came to personally criticize the club's plans and in personal remarks made with the club statement, he sought to explain the decision. of origin. He said that it was never our intention, as a supervisor, to do anything other than provide measures to protect the work while the club sought to continue operating. be self-sufficient in times of uncertainty, he said.

We are sorry for any concerns caused during the anxiety period and hope that the work that our supporters will see us do in the coming weeks, as our stadium has a whole new goal, will make them proud of their club.

That new purpose will see the Tottenham Hotspur stadium become the test center for Covid-19 driving for NHS employees and their dependents. This will be the first sports stadium in the UK to be transformed in such a manner and subject to the club's previous decision - before full notice - to provide the service of their medical staff to NHS during times of crisis.

Elsewhere, talks are understood to continue between the club and Tottenham players over possible wage cuts or delays, with the return date for professional football still uncertain.

MW