Manchester City Will Not Furlough Non-Playing Staff

Manchester City have stated they will not be furloughing employees during the Coronavirus pandemic. The government had announced measures to protect jobs by agreeing to pay employees 80% of their wages to remain at home in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Spurs, Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth were joined by leaders Liverpool in stating they would access the government’s job retention scheme and have come under fire for doing so.

But a statement issued by the club prior to Liverpool’s decision becoming public, stated the club’s position. “We can confirm, following a decision by the chairman and board last week, that Manchester City will not be utilising the UK government’s coronavirus job retention scheme. We remain determined to protect our people, their jobs and our business whilst at the same time doing what we can to support our wider community at this most challenging time for everybody.”

The move by the club will come as welcome relief for the non-playing staff at Etihad Stadium, with the majority of the country being asked to work from home where possible and limit interactions with other people.

League leaders Liverpool were criticised by former players Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann and Stan Collymore for the move, while for England striker Gary Lineker also questioned the clubs’ actions. “The big clubs, you’d have thought, would have been savvy enough to perhaps try to help more of their workers when players are earning so much money,” Lineker said today.