Queens Park Rangers boss Mark Warburton has urged the game to change as clubs try to deal with the financial implications that the current situation has brought.
The R’s, like many clubs in the Football League, have furloughed staff and it has been reported that the players are set to take a 25% pay deferral over the next three months, in order to help the club deal with the lack of income they currently have.
Whilst that’s understandable for clubs in the Championship and below, Premier League sides have also been impacted by this, with Arsenal’s squad agreeing to a pay cut and Chelsea following suit, whilst the likes of Norwich and Newcastle have furloughed staff.
And, as shared by the Mirror, Warburton explained how clubs need to use this as a reality check to ensure they are more financially responsible moving forward.
“You can’t avoid the fact that the game is fighting for survival. People are oblivious to the severity of the situation. We have a league structure that is the envy of the world but that is threatened now by what we are facing as a society.
“I do agree that we have to press the reboot button. There’s too many clubs in a financially-weak position. If you’re a cynic of the game, you could say it is time to almost cleanse the system. We don’t want that. And yet because of the emotion and passion of football, we tolerate certain wage situations that can’t be allowed.”
Clearly, clubs will be desperate for the season to resume, although the reality is that any end to the campaign is going to come behind closed doors. A potential return to training date has been set for mid-May, with the prospect of resuming the season from a month after that.
QPR will want that to happen, with Warburton’s men just about in the race to finish in the top six, with the R’s sitting six points away from the play-off places with nine games of the season remaining.
