Coronavirus: 'Premier League players can help lower league clubs', says Brian Laws
- Published
The average annual salary of a Premier League player rose to more than £3m for the first time in 2019, according to one annual report
Ex-Premier League boss Brian Laws has urged all top-flight players to donate a month's wages to lower league clubs to help them avoid financial ruin as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Some English Football League sides are bracing for the "disastrous" impact of having the season postponed.
National League club Barnet have placed staff on notice in "emergency measures to preserve the club".
"Premier League players could help a lot," Laws told BBC Nottingham Sport.
"Every player in the Premier League is a millionaire. They can afford to live a month having lost the £60,000 or £100,000 that they earn a week."
The average annual salary of a Premier League player was more than £3m in 2019, according to the latest Global Sports Salaries Survey., external
The 47 League One and League Two clubs told the EFL on Tuesday that they face an estimated combined loss of £50m if the campaign cannot restart before the summer and they have asked what assistance they may receive.
"It is not not like they are scraping by like they are in the lower leagues, who are hand-to-mouth," said Laws, who managed Burnley in the Premier League.
"Their futures are safe, if they don't kick another football for the rest of their lives they are millionaires and are secure.
"You are talking about 30 to 40 players per club, and then you put that in a pot and the Premier League clubs disperse that down the leagues to help support them through this.
"What you would be asking for is that player's give something up."
The EFL has been collecting data on potential losses, talking to clubs through board representatives over the past few days and have an emergency board meeting on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.
Tranmere Rovers owner and former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios has previously said the Premier League and government should offer support sides who face financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Laws, however, said that the Premier League, the world's richest competition, should help protect the domestic football industry itself.
"We are already piling on the government to keep businesses afloat, and OK football is a business, but the Premier League is awash with money," said Laws, who has managed in each of England's top four divisions.
"We are always going to focus on them as the go to people. Why can't we?
"The lower leagues, the Football League, is where teams are dependant on supporters week in and week out to pay. That is where their income comes from. They don't have TV revenue like the Premier League has.
"The ramifications of that is that clubs will go bust before they even got to the point where they could actually finish the season."