Sunday 5 April 2020 19:53, UK
Manchester City have confirmed they will not be furloughing any of their non-playing staff due to the coronavirus outbreak, becoming the first Premier League side to make the commitment.
Five top-flight sides have already decided to place non-playing staff on furlough, meaning the government will pay 80 per cent of their wages while they are not working.
Tottenham and Liverpool - who together made more than £150m profit according to their most recent accounts - have come in for particular criticism for their decision to furlough staff.
But City have chosen not to take a similar course of action, with a spokesperson saying: "We can confirm, following a decision by the chairman and board last week, that Manchester City will not be utilising the UK Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (government funded furloughing).
"We remain determined to protect our people, their jobs and our business, whilst at the same time doing what we can to support our wider community at this most challenging time for everybody."
As well as Liverpool and Tottenham, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Norwich are the other Premier League sides to place non-playing staff on furlough.
Their decisions were made with football across the world on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
