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Arsenal stars left fuming after ‘being told nobody would be made redundant if players took pay cut’ as Ian Wright fumes
ARSENAL stars have been left fuming after 55 members of staff were made redundant - despite being told their pay cut would ensure job security for everyone.
In April, the majority of Gunners players agreed to sacrifice 12.5 per cent of their pay with the club struggling with the financial impact of coronavirus.
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Now, the have claimed Arsenal stars are fuming as they were led to believe their wage cut would prevent the need for any redundancies.
On Wednesday, Arsenal made 55 staff - nearly ten per cent of their 590-strong non-playing workforce - redundant.
Now some players are set to hold crunch talks with club chiefs to demand answers.
But it's not just the players who have been left fuming by Arsenal's decision to axe a hoard of staff.
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Fans, pundits and former players, including Ian Wright, have all lashed out at the Gunners, with a mix of rage and disappointment.
Arsenal legend Wright tweeted: "Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent!!!"
And Gunners-mad Piers Morgan also launched into a typically ferocious rant.
Morgan tweeted: "Arsenal firing 55 staff when we're owned by a multi-billionaire, have just made £££ by winning the FA Cup & qualifying for Europe, & pay Mesut Ozil £350k-a-week to sit on his a**e, is morally indefensible.
"[It's] not what I expect from a club with our heritage.
"Shameful decision."
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The North Londoners are owned by mega-rich American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke.
The Arsenal owner's net worth is a staggering £6.31BILLION - which is 10,286 times Ozil's weekly wage.
But in a statement, Arsenal said: "Over recent years we have consistently invested in additional staff to take the club forward.
"But with the expected reduction of income in mind, it is now clear that we must reduce our costs further to ensure we are operating in a sustainable and responsible way, and to enable us to continue to invest in the team.
"Our aim has been to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can.
"Unfortunately, we have now come to the point where we are proposing 55 redundancies."
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The statement continued: "We do not make these proposals lightly and have looked at every aspect of the club and our expenditure before reaching this point.
"We are now entering the required 30-day consultation period on these proposals.
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"We know this is upsetting and difficult for our dedicated staff and our focus is on managing this as sensitively as possible.
"These proposed changes are ultimately about ensuring we take this great football club forward, creating the right organisation for a post-Covid world, and ensuring we have the resources to return to competing effectively at the top of the game here and in Europe."
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