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Arsenal players set to agree to take 12.5% pay cut with promises of Champions League incentives

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Reports have revealed that players of Arsenal FC are set to accept pay cut after they have been promised Champions League incentives. Arsenal players will be the first team in Premier League to accept a pay cut after talks to make players in the league accept payment reduction proved abortive earlier this month.

The new agreement between Arsenal players and their management will see players of the team take a 12.5% pay cut with a promise to reimburse if they qualify for the Champions League competition in 2020/21 season as the case may be. According to the report, the players will earn £100,000 for qualifying for the next Champions League. Also, each player of the team will earn £500,000 if they should win the Champions League.

Meanwhile, the last time Arsenal played at the Champions League was back in the 2016/2017 season and they crashed out in the round 16 stages. And for about two years now they have been a perpetual comer in the Europa League.

Source : https://futballnews.com/arsenal-pla...with-promises-of-champions-league-incentives/
 

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Simonson Harry

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Apr 21, 2020
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Bundesliga could restart in early May, Arsenal become first Premier League club to agree pay cut
Germany's top-flight could be the first of the world's elite football leagues to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis as regional government officials of the country's biggest states have voiced their support for the proposal to restart the Bundesliga without spectators as early as May 9.

"A weekend with football is much more bearable than a weekend without football," Markus Soder, the prime minister of Bavaria, told German newspaper Bild on Monday. "It is a tightrope walk. We now have to be careful not to overdo it or be frivolous."

"Games with crowds in the stadium are completely unthinkable. Buti it is conceivable that we might be able to play such a round of 'ghost games' from May 9," Soder added, using the German term for matches played in empty stadiums.

Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet echoed Soder's sentiments, saying "I could imagine that we could return to games behind closed doors. The prerequisite is that there is a well thought-out concept."

German Football League (DFL) CEO Christian Seifert sounded a similarly optimistic note on Monday. "These are positive signals that have been sent. Politics trust us, and we and the players in particular must now be role models," he said.

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League champions Bayern Munich are one of the first teams to return to training, Germany, April 20, 2020. /VCG

Seifert also warned against complacency or relaxing social distancing rules too early. "This has a lot to do with hygiene measures and exemplary handling of social contacts. It is important to be disciplined, not only for the employer, but also for the fans," he added.

According to Kicker magazine, German Football Association President Fritz Keller stressed that resuming league play would not mean taking resources away from healthcare workers, saying "there will be no use by sportspeople of testing capacity which would be missed elsewhere."

"We are very much aware that football without fans lacks its heart. From discussions and feedback from fan organizations, I know how much it hurts fans that they cannot support their clubs in the stadium," observed Keller.

German football was suspended on March 13 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, which currently has more than 141,000 confirmed cases and over 4,400 deaths as a result of the pandemic.

Bundesliga clubs are desperate for the season to be finished by June 30 to secure an installment of television money, reportedly worth around 326 million U.S. dollars.

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Arsenal players have agreed a pay cut and will receive some of the money back if they hit targets on the pitch. /VCG

Elsewhere in England, Arsenal have announced that first-team players, manager Mikel Arteta and core coaching staff have agreed to take pay cuts of up to 12.5 percent, becoming the first Premier League team to accept such a proposal amid the pandemic.

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached a voluntary agreement with our first-team players, head coach and core coaching staff to help support the club at this critical time," Arsenal said in a statement on Monday.

"The move follows positive and constructive discussions. In these conversations there has been a clear appreciation of the gravity of the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a strong desire for players and staff to show their backing for the Arsenal family."

"We are proud and grateful to our players and staff for pulling together to support our club, our people and our community in these unprecedented times which are some of the most challenging we have faced in our history," it added.

Arsenal's move comes after the Premier League asked all clubs to put a 30 percent pay cut to players but the Professional Footballers' Association rejected, saying that would affect tax contributions to the National Health Service (NHS).

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Son Heung-Min in action during the Premier League clash between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park, England, February 16, 2020. /VCG

According to BBC, earlier on Monday, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder and chief executive Stephen Bettis agreed to partial pay and bonus deferrals to "assist the club's cash flow issues."

Watford, Southampton and West Ham are the other Premier League clubs to have agreed wage deferrals with their first-team squads.

Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min has begun a three-week period of mandatory military service in South Korea as COVID-19 has forced the suspension of the Premier League.

Yonhap News Agency revealed on Monday that the 27-year-old Asian superstar will be exposed to tear gas, go on hikes and receive weapons training during his stint with the marines and is expected to return to London by the end of May.

Source:
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-04-...t-EPL-club-to-slash-pay-PRBbr54EOQ/index.html
 

Simonson Harry

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Apr 21, 2020
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Newcastle United takeover: BeIN Sports & Amnesty warn Premier League

  • 22 April 2020
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Image captionNewcastle United sat 13th in the Premier League when the season was suspended in March
The Premier League has been urged by one of its largest overseas broadcast partners to "fully interrogate" Newcastle United's proposed £300m takeover.

The chief executive of the Qatar-based TV giant beIN Sport, Yousef al-Obaidly, has written to the chairs of top-flight clubs about the deal, which could see the Magpies bought by a Saudi-backed consortium.

In the letter, Al-Obaidly accuses the Saudi Arabian government of the "facilitation of the near three-year theft of the Premier League's commercial rights - and in turn your club's commercial revenues - through its backing of the huge-scale beoutQ pirate service".

"It is no exaggeration to say that the future economic model of football is at stake," added Al-Obaidly, who has also written to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.

Broadcaster beoutQ has been illegally showing matches - mainly in Saudi Arabia - despite the rights to show games in the region belonging to beIN Sports, who are currently in the middle of a three-year deal with the Premier League worth £400m.

Last year football authorities attempted to shut the beoutQ service down without success.

Saudi broadcaster Arabsat has always denied that beoutQ uses its frequencies to broadcast illegally and has accused beIN of being behind "defamation attempts and misleading campaigns".

Describing the issue as "a matter of urgency", Al-Obaidly continues: "Given the crippling economic effect that coronavirus is having on the sports industry, this is all happening at a time when football clubs need to protect their broadcast revenue the most."

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund the PIF (Public Investment Fund) is understood to be set to acquire an 80% stake in the club as part of a consortium including financier Amanda Staveley and billionaires the Reuben brothers.

Mike Ashley has owned Newcastle since 2007 and put them up for sale in 2017.

In his letter to Masters, al-Obaidly says: "To the extent the reports about the acquisition of NUFC are correct, we consider it essential for the Premier League to fully investigate the potential acquirer of the club, including all directors, officers and other representatives from the KSA PIF or other Saudi Arabian entities involved in, or otherwise providing any financing for the acquisition.

"There appear to be several reasons why such an investigation is being called for by other parties; our request is purely based on Saudi Arabia's past and present theft of your and your member clubs' intellectual property rights."

The Premier League must decide whether the group of investors backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund meets its owners' and directors' test and is understood to currently be in the process of working through paperwork connected to the deal, which could take two to three weeks.

BeIN have asked the Premier League in its owners' and directors' test to consider "the direct role of Saudi Arabia" in the beoutQ service, the challenge the Premier League faces in "taking any action to protect its own intellectual property rights in the country" and its ability to "enforce" its rules against "Saudi Arabian based persons or entities".

This comes during a time when both Saudi Arabia and Qatar are involved in a wider diplomatic row in the Middle East.

BeIN is not thought to be considering its partnership with the Premier League, though last year the group did threaten to pull its deal with Serie A over the decision to stage the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty criticise takeover
Human rights campaigners Amnesty International have also criticised the potential deal.

Amnesty UK director Kate Allen said in a separate letter to Masters: "So long as these questions [about Saudi Arabia's human rights record] remain unaddressed, the Premier League is putting itself at risk of becoming a patsy of those who want to use the glamour and prestige of Premier League football to cover up actions that are deeply immoral, in breach of international law and at odds with the values of the Premier League and the global footballing community."

BBC Sport has contacted the Saudi wealth fund and representatives of the consortium asking for a response to Amnesty's letter.

The Premier League declined to comment on the Amnesty letter and Newcastle have also been approached by BBC Sport.

Amnesty - a non-governmental organisation which focuses on human rights - has long criticised Saudi Arabia's human rights record, pointing to long-standing issues including women's rights, the treatment of the LGBT community and the restriction of free speech.

Western intelligence agencies also believe the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 was ordered by the Crown Prince - something he denies. Saudi authorities blamed a "rogue operation" for Khashoggi's death.

The country has also been accused of 'sportswashing', a term used to describe countries that try to improve their international reputation by investing in major teams or hosting big sporting events.

"The Crown Prince has been using sporting events and personalities as a means of improving the Kingdom's reputation following the grisly murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi - widely believed to have taken place with his approval," the Amnesty letter continued.

"Such positive associations with sporting events also distract attention from Saudi's appalling human rights record, including the imprisonment and torture of women human rights defenders."

Accusations of sportswashing have previously been rebuffed by the man heading Saudi Arabia's unprecedented investment in sports, HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal.

"We want to get people more engaged in sport," he said. "In 2015 just 13% of Saudis took part in sports for half an hour or more each week; we want that to be 40% by 2030. This is all part of a programme designed to get people more active."

 
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