11 April 2020

West Ham's Karren Brady fearful for her players' mental health

West Ham's chief Karren Brady has said she is afraid for Premier League players' mental health.

The league is currently suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic and Brady said she's especially concerned for those players who do not have gardens.

Writing in her column for the The Sun, she said: "I am more worried about the health and wellbeing of my players [than finances].

"All PL football players are in lockdown at home (except some of the Spurs ones!) and there is only so much you can do to keep fit on a treadmill. 

"Some of my players are in flats, have no access to a garden and are literally, and I mean literally... climbing the walls!"

She also explained her decision to take a 30 percent pay cut.

"I’m not fooling anyone. If this suspension goes on for months eventually there will be grasping for any straws to try to prevent many more clubs from drowning.

"The prospect of this possibility is the reason why I have cut my own salary by 30 per cent, just as our manager David Moyes has. We continue to work through all the questions and queries — the ifs, the buts, the maybes.

"But one thing I know is that if you try managing an apocalypse you can’t. You must have the foresight to plan for when things will return to normal, whatever “normal” will mean in the future.

"As at some point this will be over."

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