West Bromwich Albion chief executive Mark Jenkins issued an official statement on Sunday afternoon, revealing he’ll be taking a 100% salary cut to take the financial burden off the club during the spread of Covid-19.
Jenkins said: “I think it is only correct that for the duration of this lockdown I take a 100 per cent cut in my salary and other members of the senior management team have also offered to take significant reductions in their remuneration.”
Love to see it
— dan keyte (@dankeyte1) April 5, 2020
Well done that man 👍👍👍
— Shauney1886 (@shauney1886) April 5, 2020
And yet we’ll still have mindless supporters who feel the need to slag him off.
Done wonders in transfer market and sorting the squad out and helped balance the books and now this . A lot of respect and credit is due 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽— Andy Neale (@Sparra06_) April 5, 2020
The measure of the man well done mark. Met him in October he loves our club and he alway has the best interest of it at the forefront of his mind and this is proof of that
— Mike Robertson (@Baggieboy75Mike) April 5, 2020
I think he’s taken an unprecedented step. An exemplary one.
— Conrad Chircop (@conradchircop) April 5, 2020
What a man. Leading by example 👏🏼
— Reece (@reexew) April 5, 2020
Jenkins has a long association with Albion. He joined the club as Finance Director in 2002 and moved up the ladder to become CEO in 2010, before stepping down in 2016 as ownership switched to controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai and chairman Li Piyue. He returned as Chief Executive in 2018 and has held the position ever since.
He also revealed staff may be furloughed so 80% of their wages is covered by the Government – Albion will ensure the other 20% is paid. Jenkins explained: “Like many other clubs. we have considered using a Furlough approach with non-playing staff who are now unable to work owing to the lock-down and we have made plans for this eventuality.
“At present, we have not been required to sanction this action, but if the lockdown continues and football remains ‘on-hold’ then this decision may have to be changed. What we will pledge is to ensure none of the staff affected suffer a reduction in pay; the Club will make up the 20 per cent shortfall not covered by the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.”
Jenkins stopped short on revealing if players would have their own wages cut, however, but says he will speak with the squad if the season doesn’t look likely to resume any time soon. Health secretary Matt Hancock has called on footballers to give more money while the Premier League proposed a 30% pay cut for all players.
Jenkins added: “Clearly there has been a lot of media attention on player wages and the comments of the PFA. It is difficult to forecast our future position because of the various ways the Club receives its income. But if we continue to be unable to play football in any format, we will discuss this further with the players who I am confident will want to play their part.”
Prior to the season being postponed, West Brom sat second in the Championship with 70 points from 37 games.