Piers Morgan hails West Brom after Mark Jenkins statement
Piers Morgan has heaped praise on West Brom for how they are managing their finances during the coronavirus crisis.
On Sunday, Albion’s chief executive Mark Jenkins announced on the club’s official website that he is taking a 100 per cent pay cut for the duration of the United Kingdom’s lockdown, while other senior staff members have offered to take similar reductions.
While Jenkins admits that the club is “receiving virtually no income” at the moment and furloughing non-playing staff has been considered, that is not something the Baggies want to do just yet.
In the Premier League, a number of top clubs have already furloughed non-playing staff, meaning that the taxpayer will have to cover 80 per cent of the wage of those out of work up to £2,500 a month.
Good Morning Britain host Morgan has been highly critical of those top-flight clubs but is happy to see Championship promotion contenders West Brom taking their approach to the crisis.
“It is disgusting what is going on at Liverpool and Tottenham and Newcastle and some others,” Morgan said on Good Morning Britain on Monday, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
“On the other side it’s brilliant what is happening at clubs like West Brom who don’t have anything like that kind of money, don’t have billionaire owners and are doing the right thing.
“The fans can drive this because fans are sitting at home watching this and going ‘really?’ American billionaires making the British taxpayer pay the staffing costs at a club like Liverpool?”
West Brom have always been a club that’s finances have been managed very well.
Jenkins has had a lot of criticism in the past but there is no denying that his work in the last year has been impeccable.
He might be a high-earning chief executive but taking a 100 per cent pay cut, for what could be a long period of time, is a very classy move by him to ensure that non-playing staff are paid in full before having to furlough them.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips has backed West Brom to sign better players than Saido Berahino ahead of next season.