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Rooney calls pay cut pressure on players a 'disgrace'

SHOWS:

DERBY, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - AUGUST 6, 2019) (PATV - ACCESS ALL)

1. WAYNE ROONEY, THEN OF DC UNITED, AND DERBY COUNTY MANAGER, PHILLIP COCU, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE AND SHAKING HANDS FOR CAMERAS

2. ROONEY

3. ROONEY AND COCU, BOTH SIT DOWN FOR START OF NEWS CONFERENCE

4. ROONEY SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES (FILE - JULY 13, 2018) (DC UNITED - BROADCASTER AND DIGITAL: MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'DC UNITED')

5. ROONEY DURING TRAINING WITH DC UNITED

ENFIELD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - MARCH 26, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

6. ROONEY DURING TRAINING WITH ENGLAND

BURTON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - NOVEMBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

7. ROONEY DURING TRAINING WITH ENGLAND

STORY: Former England captain Wayne Rooney said the public pressure being exerted on elite footballers to take pay cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is a "disgrace", according to a report in the Sunday Times.

Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week that Premier League players should take pay cuts and the Premier League said clubs were in talks over a 30% reduction.

"How the past few days have played out is a disgrace," Rooney wrote.

"First the health secretary ... said Premier League players should take a pay cut. Was he desperate to divert attention from his government's handling of this pandemic?," he added.

Rooney also questioned why the Premier League had announced publicly that it was looking for its players to give up or defer 30% of their wages.

"It feels as if it's to shame the players - to force them into a corner where they have to pick up the bill for lost revenue," he wrote.

"Whatever way you look at it, we're easy targets."

Football in England has been suspended indefinitely due to the outbreak and several clubs, including Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, have furloughed non-playing staff.

Rooney, who captains Championship side Derby County, added that decisions on pay cuts should be made on a case-by-case basis.

The players union in England has also questioned the league's public call for wage reductions, and Rooney said players were in a "no-win situation".

(Production: Kurt Michael Hall)