Luton players are yet to agree wage cuts or deferrals to help the club cope with the Coronavirus crisis and chief executive Gary Sweet has pointed a finger at the ‘difficult’ Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).
The Hatters begun negotiations in April as the Coronavirus crisis deepened, leaving clubs with no match-day revenue after a shutdown was enforced in March.
The club has already furloughed staff and ended the contract of manager Graeme Jones and three of his staff to help offset the financial pressure.
But though Town pay the lowest player wages in the Championship, it still accounts for a significant amount of their outgoings and Sweet has previously said that wage cuts would be needed, with him already having taken one.
Asked if he was surprised at not being able to strike a deal with the players about their wages, Sweet said: “Yes, I am, but I also remain confident.
“It’s like this with players, and not just at Luton Town, if players don’t take a cut, or at the very least a very strong deferral very soon, they won’t have a club to pay them.
“And that’s not just us, it’s right through the leagues. There are very few clubs that could survive this by continuing to pay their players 100 per cent.
“The PFA are being very difficult. We have had to provide quite extensive cash flow and financial statements to Deloitte, who are operating as accountants on behalf of PFA, for them to scrutinise us with regards to our financial position and I think everybody is going to have a little bit of a shock when they see the real picture.”
