Football / News
Players and staff at City and Rovers face financial realities of coronavirus crisis
Bristol City and Bristol Rovers have both taken measures to safeguard their financial stability.
City players have agreed to defer a percentage of their wages for three months, with all staff agreeing a temporary voluntary salary reduction and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme being used to place some non-playing staff on furlough.
Bristol City CEO, Mark Ashton, said: “The coronavirus pandemic means that, along with millions of other businesses around the world, we find ourselves living in unusual and uncertain circumstances.
is needed now More than ever
“But we believe these measures, taken in conjunction with other areas of Bristol Sport, will safeguard our financial stability and help us come through this period in the best possible position for when football resumes.”
Rovers have placed players and all staff that are unable to work on furlough.
While staff are on furlough, the club will be topping up their wages to ensure they receive their usual basic net pay.
A statement on the Rovers website said that the club “will not be asking the players to defer any of their basic pay for the time being”.
“This will need to be kept under review like many other issues given the uncertainty and changing circumstances that exist at this difficult time.”
City are deferring the first direct debit payment for 2020/21 season cards by one month, from May 1 to June 1; while to mark selling 1,000 season tickets for next season, Rovers will be donating 1,000 match tickets for the 2020/21 campaign to NHS staff.
On Thursday night, City and Rovers will meet in competitive action for the first time since 2013 with the two clubs drawn to face each other in the first round of the inaugural EFL Football Manager Cup.
Main image: EFL Football Manager Cup
Read more: Bristol Rovers and Community Trust join forces to help older fans
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
