Hatters CEO warns players that pay cuts are needed if Luton are to survive

Chief executive Gary Sweet has warned Luton’s players that if they don’t agree to a pay cut soon, they might not have a club left in the future.

The Town squad remain in discussions over whether to take a reduction to their salaries, or a wage deferral, to help the Hatters in their hour of need.

When asked if he was surprised that a deal hadn’t been struck, Sweet said: “Yes, I am, but I also remain confident.

“It’s like this with players, and not just at Luton Town, if players don’t take a cut, or at the very least a very strong deferral very soon, they won’t have a club to pay them.

“And that’s not just us, it’s right through the leagues.

“There are very few clubs that could survive this by continuing to pay their players 100 per cent.

“The PFA are being very difficult.

"We have had to provide quite extensive cash flow and financial statements to Deloitte, who are operating as accountants on behalf of PFA, for them to scrutinise us with regards to our financial position.

“I think everybody is going to have a little bit of a shock when they see the real picture.”

It's not just the players that need to contribute though as Luton proved by terminating manager Graeme Jones' contract by mutual consent last month, plus backroom staff members Gary Brabin, Inigo Idiakez and Imanol Etxeberria.

On the reasoning behind that decision, Sweet continued: "It’s (terminating contract of a manager) easier than players, for sure, but it does save us money.

“I’d like to thank Graeme and the other three lads as well for their efforts, it really is such a difficult time, if it wasn’t for the virus, would we be doing this right now? No we wouldn’t, is the simple answer.

“What we are looking at is taking a very, very early view and a correct view on how we reduce our costs longer term and also treating this period of closure like a close season.

"Come the close season, we always take stock and take review of our situation anyway, but I think what’s clear is football is changing and is going to change.

"It’s going to be a very different product when we do return, the market it going to have different dynamics to it.

"So we just felt predominantly from a financial perspective and because this is our review period, that this is the sensible thing for us to do as a club at this time."

The Town CEO also confirmed that he was continuing to look at every single part of the club for ways to cut back and save money during this increasingly testing period.

He added: "We’re not limiting ourselves to players and coaching staff, we’re actually looking to every single member of the football club to contribute, no matter how much their salary is.

“Broadly my theory is the more you earn, the more you’re willing to give.

“So those at the bottom, we’re really trying to protect, as much as anything else, and the higher earners will have to offer more.

“As far as contracts are concerned, at this time, there’s an awful lot more flexibility with our employees who are not footballers.