England rugby boss Eddie Jones to be asked to take 25 per cent pay cut with RFU braced for £50m loss
ENGLAND boss Eddie Jones will be asked to take a 25 per cent pay-cut from his £750,000-a-year job as Twickenham chiefs are braced for a £50million coronavirus loss.
Chief exec Bill Sweeney announced last night that he had already agreed to slash his £625,000-a-year wages by the same amount to try and stem the massive cash-flow issues.
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Sweeney said: “Based on our planning assumption we estimate RFU revenue losses over the next 18 months to be approximately £45-£50 million and have a firm plan in place to mitigate this.
“The RFU executive will be taking a cut in remuneration in excess of 25%. In addition, combined board fees will be reduced by 75%.”
Jones and his backroom staff are next on the list with Sweeney likely to approach them this week to finalise their drop in money.
He did promise a bailout of £7m for community rugby clubs, those below the Championship, but that package was made up of cash that was already being dished out to them anyways.
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But there was some good news to come out of the dire situation that the home of rugby finds itself in.
Hospital staff could be both housed and fed at the stadium with talks with NHS staff ongoing.
Sweeney added: “We are discussing with government and the NHS the role the RFU and Twickenham Stadium can play in providing volunteers as well as support for the NHS including accommodation, parking and meal provisioning.”