Jurgen Klopp is said to be willing to take a pay cut to provide funds in the coronavirus pandemic, despite debate ongoing between players and the Premier League.
Negotiations among the PFA continue regarding the demand for a 30 percent wage cut or deferral, with chief executive Gordon Taylor doubling down after health secretary Matt Hancock’s latest comments.
Hancock has maintained his bizarre stance that Premier League footballers should be “playing their part” but not, his aversion to questioning would suggest, billionaire business owners—including those who run the clubs themselves.
Taylor told the Telegraph that the players are “not stupid” and will require “complete due diligence” from their clubs to ensure the funds are going to the right places.
The same furore does not exist over managers, however, which has allowed a more comfortable discussion between the figureheads of the 20 clubs.
Both Eddie Howe and Graham Potter have already taken voluntary wage cuts, and the Mail reports that Klopp, along with David Moyes, has “privately indicated” that he is ready to do the same.
This follows his compassionate message on the outbreak of coronavirus last month, when he told fans “if it’s a choice between football and the good of the wider society, it’s no contest.”
“Yes, I am the manager of this team and club and therefore carry a leadership responsibility with regards to our future on the pitch,” he continued.
“But I think in the present moment, with so many people around our city, the region, the country and the world facing anxiety and uncertainty, it would be entirely wrong to speak about anything other than advising people to follow expert advice and look after themselves and each other.”
It is perhaps an indictment of the clamour for footballers—and footballers only—to “play their part” that managers are not part of the political discussion, but it is positive nonetheless that the LMA are advising their members.
Klopp has been consistently supportive of charity endeavours, and upon receiving the FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year award in September revealed he had become the first manager to join the Common Goal initiative.
The German pledged one percent of his annual salary, as is the norm with Common Goal, to disadvantaged young people around the world.
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