Former Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp criticises club for cutting wages of non-playing staff

Players at the north London club are still being paid in full

Former Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp has criticised the north London club for cutting the pay of non-playing staff instead of players.

This week, Tottenham announced a 20 per cent wage cut for all 550 non-playing employees, with many people reacting negatively to the news that squad members are still being paid as normal.

Redknapp, who coached Spurs between 2008 and 2012, has now urged players at the club to sacrifice some of their pay to protect non-playing staff.

“I can’t believe it,” Redknapp, who managed Tottenham from 2008 to 2012, told The Sun.

“Surely players should be taking a cut, this isn’t for big clubs like Tottenham. I thought the Government were going to pay ordinary people who are struggling and help small businesses who are struggling.

“But you are talking here about a club where their players earn £10-12 million a year.

“Tottenham are owned by Joe Lewis, one of the richest men in the world, and his club are cutting the wages of all their non-football staff by 20 per cent. I can’t believe it.

“Here is a club where the average player earns £80,000, £90,000, £100,000 a week. And that’s [on] average. Their top players earn £150,000 a week, maybe even £200,000 a week.

“I know their minds and they don’t want to be going it alone, but they will do it if all their team-mates do it.

“They can all afford to hand over 10 per cent and I’d like to see the captain of every Premier League club call a meeting and say: ‘Come on, guys, we are all in it together, let’s donate to help our staff.’”

The Professional Footballers’ Association met this week to discuss the possibility of implementing a means of cutting players’ wages.