A football coach and administrator, Austin Tyowua has said it will amount to wickedness for any club in the Nigeria Professional Football League to cut down players’ salaries in the name of Covid-19 crisis.
Following the suspension of football activities around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, most clubs in Europe have of recent slashed the wages of their players and officials in order to stay afloat.
Consequently there are fears that NPFL clubs may decide to emulate Nigeria National League side, Yobe Desert Stars who recently slashed salaries and allowances of their players and officials.
However, Tyowua who spoke to Daily Trust yesterday was of the opinion that since NPFL clubs don’t do any form of business but rely solely on government funding, they would have no justifiable reason to slash players’ salaries.
He said “What is happening in Europe is completely different. European clubs make money so whenever there is a force majeure, its affects their income. The clubs draw money from sponsors.
“Our case is different because NPFL clubs are not business oriented. They are not running on money from corporate sponsors. They are wholly sponsored by state governments.
“Be that as it may, NPFL clubs can only slash players’ wages if their allocation is lowered by government. At the moment, their allocations are not tampered with so what would be their reason for cutting down salaries?.”
Tyowua reiterated that instead of slashing salaries, clubs should think of increasing remunerations because they are making more money in the present circumstances.
According to him, even as the league is on hold, state governments are still releasing the same allocations to the clubs who do not have any expenditure at the moment.
“As a matter of fact, most of the clubs are now making money because there are no matches for them to execute but their allocations are still flowing.
“Their players are no longer in camp so they are not paying for hotel accommodation. Clubs are not travelling for matches just as players’ medical needs are no longer there. So they have recurrent expenditures that are no longer there but their allocation is constant,” argued Tyowua.
So the former coach of Nigeria Defence College FC reiterated that even if the lockdown lingers and their allocations are eventually reduced, clubs should first consider doing away with unnecessary expenditures before they would look in the direction of players’ and officials salaries.
“If any club chairman is thinking like that he has no justifiable reason. It will be wickedness. I repeat, Nigerian clubs don’t do any business so the COVID-19 lockdown does not affect them. They shouldn’t be copy cats. What is happening in European clubs is different,” he insisted.
