Yeovil Town players and staff asked to take 50% pay cut
- Published
YeovilTown are currently fourth in the National League
Yeovil Town have asked players and staff to take a 50% pay cut because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is reported the club, who were relegated to the National League last season, are facing a £400,000 loss, external as a result of cancelled fixtures.
All National League matches are currently suspended until 3 April.
"It's something that's done with a very heavy heart, it's not something I was expecting to do at this stage of my tenure," said owner Scott Priestnall.
"But it's a balance between ensuring we keep the football club alive and operational versus ensuring that our staff receive monies and help towards supporting their families," he told BBC Somerset.
Yeovil follow Aldershot Town in cutting salaries, while fellow fifth-tier side Barnet have put all their non-playing staff on notice of redundancy.
The Glovers were taken over by Scott Priestnall in September after a protracted end to John Fry’s 23 years at the helm of the Somerset club.
Priestnall is now hopeful the club will be able to access government plans to pay up to 80% of salaries for businesses affected by the pandemic.
"If we do become eligible for it then the wage deferral scheme that we put in place obviously gets altered because of that," added Priestnall.
"Our players are on fixed-term contracts, we're not sure if that works for the scheme that the government have put out.
"Hopefully it works for our staff and I don't see how our club staff should be treated any different to the rest of the country - they've all been sent home, they're not working apart from one or two."
Key figures from non-league football are due to meet with the Football Association this week to discuss fallout of the coronavirus outbreak and how to resolve the current season.
Premier League and English Football League games are suspended until at least 30 April.
The National League came in for criticism having allowed games on 13 March to go ahead as scheduled despite fixtures in the top flight and EFL already being cancelled.