Sonny Bradley says Luton players wanted to take wage deferrals from ‘day one’ but that it was a ‘difficult process’ to agree a deal that would help Luton cut costs due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
After a month of negotiations, the Hatters squad last week agreed a way forward, after the club was forced to furlough staff and part ways with former manager Graeme Jones, as they felt the pinch of no match-day income.
Town stars all returned to training last week and the fit players look set to be available for the Project Restart date of June 20.
Town’s squad are the lowest paid in the Championship, with wages of top earners capped at £6,000 a week, but asked if
Agreeing to a deferral was it something the players always wanted to get done, Bradley said: “Yeah, of course, from day one.
“This wasn’t a case of any player at the football club refusing to take a deferral. We just wanted to make sure that the players and the football club were both satisfied, and the PFA.
“We wanted to do it as a team and when you’ve got 30 boys to come to an agreement on a percentage on a deferral, it does take a little bit of time and that’s what’s happened.
“I think everybody knows that we are one of the lowest paid clubs in the Championship. We don’t have players here on £15,000 to £20,000 a week. I think our average wage is just over £4,000 a week, so there are players at this football club that, when you compare to other clubs, are not on a great amount .
“So, when you’re asking for a certain amount from them, certain players will have to look at their outgoings because, like anyone, everybody makes plans with their money. Every player has to look at their outgoings and decide what they can afford to part way with, temporarily.
We are in a position where that’s been agreed and everyone’s happy, so we have agreed, we can move on and concentrate on football.”
Chief executive Gary Sweet, who took a pay cut early on in the pandemic, last week slammed the Professional Footballers’ Association for their part in scrutinising Luton’s finances, even drafting in Deloitte to pick through their books.
Captain Bradley was central to the discussions, as he, top striker James Collins and goalkeeper James Shea assumed roles as spokespersons for the squad.
He said: “It’s tough, it was a difficult process. There was no easy conversation, everything had to be done properly and from the start of the talks, we agreed as a group that we would take the same deferral and stick together on it.
“As my job, James Shea and James Collins, who are senior members of the team, that’s our job to try and get 30 plus individuals to agree on a percentage.
“It was difficult and it did take time but I’m glad we’re there now, that’s all sorted now and I think we’re at a stage where the players are happy, the club is happy and the PFA are happy so we can move on from that now and concentrate on football.”
Explaining his part in the negotiations over the deferral deal, with Collins and the players’ PFA representative Shea, Bradley said: “It made sense for us three, Gary Sweet and Paul Watson (general operations manager) to create a small group and help the communication so they could come to us and speak and then we could go back to the players.
“That’s the way we chose to do it and we felt, as senior players, and as James Shea is our PFA representative, we had an obligation to protect the players and make them understand exactly what was going on.
“It did take time and probably more time than the club wanted but that’s just the nature of what’s going on, they had to make sure it was done correctly and I think now we’re at the point where everyone is happy and we can just look forward to finishing the season.”
