Renowned Ghanaian Football Psychologist, Dr. Patrick Ofori has advised local players to be tactful and come into agreement with their respective clubs about implementing salary cut measures during these challenging times for Ghana football due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CoronaVirus outbreak has put football in a distress situation worldwide, with various stakeholders forced to consider and implement cost cutting options to mitigate the financial implications the Covid-19 season brings.

With football activities halted and revenue streams drying up, one major cost cutting measure that has been applied is slashing of player and staff salaries. Top clubs like Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich have all activated this initiative.

In Ghana, the discussion has panned out differently with majority opining that such a measure will have drastic effects on the players who are already on meager salaries.

The PFAG (the body that represents the welfare of Ghanaian Footballers) have vehemently opposed the idea of forcing salary cuts down the throats of players.

However, former Asante Kotoko and Black Stars team psychologist, Patrick Ofori says attention should not always be on the players, but consideration should also be given to the club owners and administrators.

 “Yeah, I subscribe to implementing pay cuts because desperate situations call for desperate measures; he told Cape Coast based ATL FM.

“We also understand the PFAG’s position that already the players are taking meager salaries so slashing their salaries will badly affect them.

“But they should also think about club owners and administrators, in Ghana’s case, we have not played proper football in the last 2 years and because of that, the revenue generated from player sales and gate proceeds have not happened because we’ve not been able to play continuously 30 or so matches in the last 3 years since the Anas expose happened.

“All these affect the revenue streams for people involved in football, especially the owners, so when this crisis happens and players take entrenched positions that contracts must be respected…they need to be tactful about that” he stated.

Dr. Patrick Ofori says the graveness of the matter means some clubs risk going bankrupt if such drastic measures are not taken.

He has suggested that players can soften their stance and agree to similar pay cut options like wage deferrals and other deferred compensation packages.

“If care isn’t taken, clubs may go bankrupt of people will lose interest in investing in football after the CoronaVirus crisis is over.

 “Is that what the players want, Players must be tactful and look at options like wage deferral”, he concluded