Manchester: Manchester City have become the first Premier League club to confirm a commitment to paying its entire non-playing staff in full during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The move to avoid furloughing was agreed last week before being ratified at board level on Friday morning.
A number of English Premier League clubs are taking advantage of the British government's scheme to fund non-playing staff during the coronavirus epidemic and are thus furloughing employees at the taxpayer's expense.
"We can confirm, following a decision by the chairman and board last week, that Manchester City will not be utilising the UK government's coronavirus job retention scheme," the club said in a statement.
"We remain determined to protect our people, their jobs and our business whilst at the same time doing what we can to support our wider community at this most challenging time for everybody."
Among other clubs, table-toppers Liverpool have announced a furlough, accessing the government's job retention scheme, which means the public purse will cover 80 percent of wages.
Former players have come down heavily on this move by Liverpool, saying the government’s scheme is not being used as intended.
Earlier, Liverpool had announced a 42 million ($51 million) pre-tax profit in February. The others clubs include the likes of Tottenham, Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth who have all used the furlough option.
Gary Lineker, speaking to a news organisation on Sunday, also appeared to question the clubs' actions.
"The big clubs, you would have thought, would have been savvy enough to perhaps try to help more of their workers when players are earning so much money," he said.
However, Liverpool fan group Spirit of Shankly supported the club’s move.
"The use of the furlough scheme maintains that commitment (to treat staff fairly) and it ensures that all lower-paid staff who run a variety of contracts will continue to receive 100 per cent of their wage. That's got to be seen as a positive," the group said in a statement.
