Credit where it is due to Tottenham fans over player pay cut fiasco but what about West Ham?

There may not be much love lost between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur fans but credit where it is due.

Traditionally West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur don’t get on.

Whether it is supporters teasing and tormenting one another, the clubs fighting over a stadium or going through the courts over an alleged spying scandal (BBC Sport).

The rivalry between West Ham and Spurs has grown bigger over the Premier League era.

Tottenham fans claim they are not bothered by West Ham. Just like Arsenal fans used to claim they were not bothered about Spurs.

The truth is they are, even if their team is a tier above the Hammers in the Premier League pecking order.

Rivalries cast to one side for now in common fight but club leaders drag Spurs and Hammers names through the mud

Rivalries can be put to one side as we all fight a common enemy, the coronavirus.

West Ham and Tottenham fans have both seen their names dragged through the mud by their leaders in the wake of the coronavirus.

First vice-chairman Karren Brady somehow made herself more unpopular by becoming the first senior Premier League club official to break ranks following the enforced shutdown, declaring the season should be null and void (The Sun).

Brady and West Ham were accused of distasteful self-interest.

So too were Spurs. First Harry Kane insisted the season should be cancelled if it cannot be restarted in June (Sky Sports). A cancelled season would likely see Tottenham reinstated in the Champions League for a new campaign.

Then Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy caused uproar by placing 550 non-playing staff on the government’s furlough scheme (BBC Sport).

Levy, who was the Premier League’s best-paid exec last season with £7million, confirmed in a club statement: “The club’s operations have effectively ceased, some of our fans will have lost their jobs and most will be worried about their future.”

Against the backdrop of death and economic disaster across the country, Tottenham’s actions have been widely criticised.

Credit where it is due to Tottenham fans

So credit where it is due to Tottenham fans after they turned on their club and demanded their players bare the brunt (The Sun).

Spurs fans are outraged the club’s non-playing staff are feeling the effects of the coronavirus crisis while the footballers continue to receive full pay.

Now the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust has hit out at their club’s leadership, calling on players and directors to make a further voluntary contribution “so that the most vulnerable do not bear too great a burden”.

“What has most angered fans, who care that their club does the right thing, is that an organisation that is perceived to be very wealthy is cutting staff pay and asking for government help while the most well-remunerated individuals under its umbrella maintain their earnings.

“This anger is not exclusive to the Spurs community, but the club’s reputation as a wealthy and well-run business means it is in the spotlight.

“We are aware that no football club can impose contract changes on its playing or coaching staff without agreement with the respective unions, the PFA and LMA.

“So the comment that THFC has chosen to cut non-playing staff wages while choosing not to cut playing staff wages is inaccurate.

“But there is nothing to stop the club’s players making a voluntary contribution to ensure that the most vulnerable do not bear too great a burden.

“And there is nothing to stop the club’s directors, including the chairman, making a further personal contribution on top of their 20 per cent wage cuts; points we have made directly to the club board and will continue to do so.

“We have made it clear that this is a course of action fans would overwhelmingly support.”

Well said Tottenham fans.

What about West Ham?

But what of West Ham?

The Hammers boast a host of high-earning stars.

West Ham have two players earning in excess of £115,000 per week. The Hammers have another two on over £100,000 and five more on over £70,000 per week.

A further nine earn over £40,000 every seven days.

So the moral buck should not stop with Spurs just because they have a shiny new stadium.

Flip the debate on its head and West Ham have their own big new stadium but only have to pay £2.5million in rent every year.

So it could be argued they are in a better position than anyone to make cuts.

Levy has included himself in the pay cut. Has or will Brady do the same with her salary at West Ham?

Football has an opportunity to do some real good and give back to the communities that support them at a time of need.

But at the moment the game is scoring a hugely damaging own goal instead.

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