Thursday 29 March 2018 17:37, UK
Newcastle and Southampton have expressed their commitment to gender balance after reporting pay gaps between male and female employees in excess of 80 per cent.
Both the Magpies and the Saints published their gender pay gap reports - as all Premier League clubs are required to do - on Friday.
Newcastle recorded a gap in mean pay during the reporting period - in their case, the 2015-16 season - of 83.3 per cent, although the difference is reduced to 16.1 per cent when the salaries of manager Rafael Benitez and the club's players are taken out of the equation.
The team were relegated from the Premier League at the end of that season, so no bonus payments were made.
Newcastle’s managing director, Lee Charnley, said: "Ours is a sport in which the highest-earning roles are occupied almost exclusively by men. Our gender pay gap reflects this.
"Nevertheless, Newcastle United celebrate the fact that more women and girls become involved in the world of football every day.
"We are committed to encouraging women to engage with and work in football.
"Whilst overall our gender pay gap is 83 per cent, the pay gap excluding players and first-team manager is 16 per cent.
"We maintain a commitment to ensuring gender balance wherever we can at all levels. Our senior management team within business operations at Newcastle United has equal male and female representation."
Southampton's mean pay gap was slightly higher at 84.4 per cent, although once players' salaries are removed, the mean hourly fixed pay gap is reduced to 37 per cent.
However, club officials claim the disparity is not due to men and women being paid differently for similar roles.
Their report, covering the year up to April 5, 2017 and signed by managing director Toby Steele and director of human resources Michelle Butler, says: "It is our belief that our gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work.
"Rather it is the result of the roles in which men and women work within Southampton Football Club and the salaries that these roles attract."
There was also a four per cent gap between the number of men and women who received a bonus, with 47 per cent of male staff and 43 per cent of female staff at the St Mary's Stadium doing so.
The report continued: "Our culture is such that every staff member should feel valued and included. Therefore it is important for us that equality is not a specialist responsibility, but that it is ingrained in how we do business."
