Chelsea yet to agree player pay cuts but commit to not furloughing non-playing staff

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Chelsea will continue to hold discussions with the first team over financial sacrifices in light of the coronavirus pandemic, but have instructed the squad to focus their efforts on charitable causes for the time being.

Representatives of the club’s board have held extensive talks with players over deferrals and pay cuts to “find a meaningful partnership around ensuring we preserve jobs for staff, compensate fans and participate in activities for good causes.”

However, for now, Chelsea’s roster will continue to contribute to the causes they have been supporting on an individual level as well as funding the Players Together initiative. The financial situation may be revised as the crisis develops.

The club have also confirmed that they will not be turning to the government’s current Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which runs to 30 June.

A statement from Chelsea read: “We are not planning any general redundancies or furloughs for our full-time staff who are continuing to be paid 100 per cent of their current wages.

“Casual workers and matchday staff employed by the club are being compensated by us through 30 June as if matches had been played and we had been operating as normal.”

Chelsea have also committed to crediting, on a pro-rata basis, general admission and hospitality season ticket holders for any Premier League home matches that are played behind closed doors once the final fixtures for the season have been agreed.

The club will also reimburse travel and accommodation costs up to £350 per ticket holder to cover non-refundable expenditure by the 3,800 supporters due to travel to Munich last month for the Champions League match.

Chelsea’s charity work has been wide-reaching during the pandemic. They have provided 128 rooms for NHS staff in hotels located at Stamford Bridge and are supplying 81,000 meals to the vulnerable in the area.

The club also joined with UK charity Refuge “to raise awareness and valuable funds to support women and children experiencing domestic abuse during the pandemic.”

Chelsea will match the donations received by Refuge over a six-week period.