All staff including players at Wrexham AFC to be furloughed

[fezbob]

Bit a of a more grim sounding update from the club than other recent ones. I've copied the headlines, but there's a bigger statement on the link below.

The Board of the Wrexham Supporters Trust wishes to share the following important update regarding COVID-19 and its impact on the Football Club.

Following the recent National League announcement, in which it was confirmed the current season would be suspended indefinitely – and in light of ongoing, vital UK Government restrictions – important decisions have had to be made to safeguard the future of the Football Club.

As well as providing reassurance for supporters, we have been making provision to save every penny we can by systematically shutting down the Racecourse and having a structured approach to cost reduction. However, there are only so many costs we can take out from that approach.

As a result, we have today communicated with all employees of the business – including the playing and coaching staff – to ask them to agree to move into the Government-organised Job Retention Scheme. The decision to furlough employees means we can pay them on an ongoing basis under the conditions announced by the Government.

All employees would remain employees of Wrexham AFC under the terms of their employment contracts.

This decision has not been taken lightly, and we need the understanding, sacrifice and co-operation of the employees of Wrexham AFC for the club to survive and move forwards.

https://www.wrexhamafc.co.uk/news/st...ct-of-covid-19

[NottsRed]

Pretty grim but not entirely unsurprising given the current situation.

You have to think though as bad as it is there are going to be other clubs in a much worse situation than us at the moment.

[fezbob]

Originally Posted by NottsRed

Pretty grim but not entirely unsurprising given the current situation.

You have to think though as bad as it is there are going to be other clubs in a much worse situation than us at the moment.

We'll be better off but the headline figure of being down £250,000 due to loss of match day revenue is pretty concerning.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by NottsRed

You have to think though as bad as it is there are going to be other clubs in a much worse situation than us at the moment.

It seems the sensible business move, and as you say, I get the feeling we are in a better position than most to survive this hibernation period however long it could be.

[WV1]

I’m not sure it is that grim...

They’re using the schemes out there to protect the club long term. Effectively shutting down the club in the short term.

It’s a sensible decision.

As has been said, there will be clubs higher up in a worse position.

Do we know what cash reserve we have? That would be my question. How much is there to pay the small amount of costs in the short term

[bowler]

I fear lots of lower League clubs will go to the wall.

[Prentonred]

I am assuming player contracts run until the end of June. So the government will pick up the tab from now . We will then only have to pay a few players in contract from july onwards . How many non playing paid staff do we have? l

[Prodigal Dragon]

Glad the Board are again doing their job, distressing though it may be.

My 2 questions would be:

Can you furlough contracted players? as opposed to salaried staff.

Will the Board seek a deferment on, or reduction of, the £100k we pay Glyndwr University for the lease of the ground?

Finally, we will have to be quite hard-nosed when it comes to renewing contracts.

PS To help out our club, I will not seek any refund for my ST or extra tickets I had also bought. Not everyone will be able to follow suit, but I would urge those fans who can to put aside their distrust of the Trust, put the club first, and resolve the outstanding issues of accountability in due course.

The whole country is currently in a bad place, as is our club. Let's not make it any worse than need be.

[Cymro]

Are we early in making this announcement or have other clubs already stated similar? I have seen a couple, Barrow for instance, but very few others. surely most of the clubs in our league are going to have to take similar measures.