With money tight everywhere we get a glimpse into who the best run football clubs. And who are not. One of the leaders in the worst-run category is Barcelona, who are going back to their players and asking them to take further wage cuts as Barca’s 2021-22 budget will be €200 million less than what it was this season.
The players have already agreed to take a 70% reduction to their monthly salaries to help Barca through this economic crisis, biut former vice president Emili Rousaud, who was a member of the board of directors until last week, told ESPN “the club’s proposal lacked ambition given the economic problems they will have to face.”
“I have zero criticism towards the players,” he said. “They did what was asked of them and more, with the additional contribution to make up the salaries of the rest of the club’s employees.
“But was asked of them, from my point of view, is insufficient to cover the deficit in revenue that we’re going to have.”
“In round figures, [the savings] are about €14m a month of the net salary of the first team players and €2m from the club’s other teams”
“If the state of alarm lasts two months it will be 11.5%. It is a flexible agreement conditioned on the number of days.”
The Spanish champions have seen a huge reduction in revenue streams since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe. As well as the loss of matchday revenue, they have also been forced to close the club’s museum and club shops, which bring in millions of euros a year.
A source estimates the club’s budget for next season will be down around €200m on this season’s approved budget of €1 billion due to a failure to reach €1bn in projected revenue for the 2019-20 season. That is based on the season being completed behind closed doors, too, and the club receiving all television money owing for the season.
