Southampton first club to defer wages

LONDON: Southampton on Thursday became the first Premier League club to defer players’ wages as a senior official for their union insisted they were doing their bit for the nation during the coronavirus pandemic.

Southampton’s players, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, his staff and the club´s directors will defer their salaries for April, May and June. The club said the measure would “help protect the future of the club, the staff that work within it and the community we serve”. Southampton also said they would not be using the government scheme to pay the salaries of other employees.