Some Rotherham United first-team staff set to be furloughed ... and it could be coming for the players

The manager of the League One Millers accepts that players can’t escape the financial implications of the Covid-19 outbreak but wants any sanctions to be imposed on clubs across the board.

“It’s naive of me to sit here and think that our club in the third tier won’t be affected,” he said. “For every club, around 70 per cent of their outgoings are players’ wages.

“I would like any decision to be made by the governing bodies and not by individual clubs. It’s good for the health of all clubs if they are subject to the same conditions. I hope it’s going to be one shoe fits all.”

The boss says clubs are in discussions with the EFL and playing and management unions the PFA and LMA about the best way forward.

With football suspended indefinitely and clubs receiving little income, options include furloughing players, deferring some of their wages or asking them to take short-term pay cuts.

Furloughing is a temporary leave of absence where the Government pays 80 per cent of wages up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

It is up to employers whether they then make up the full amount.

The leading players in League One are well paid and dropping to a monthly £2,500 would hit them hard in the pocket.

“It’s good for the health of all clubs if they are subject to the same conditions,” Warne said. “You want all the teams to come through this so we can still have football as we know it.

“If it’s a case of survival of the fittest I think a lot of clubs will massively struggle. It’s easier if everyone does it the same way.

“What no club wants is a difference in strategy between clubs. A club challenging for promotion may have been tight with their books, say, and then play against a team who have been a lot looser with theirs. The players of the second club would be more motivated than those playing for the first.”

A number of non-playing Millers first-team staff are set to be furloughed.

“Unfortunately, we are going to have to furlough some,” Warne said. “Hopefully we can get back on the training ground soon and it will be a month or two months tops.

“There will be certain key workers who stay on and plan for the future and review training schedules and things like that.”

Warne would prefer wage deferrals for his squad to a furlough.

“Furloughing isn’t something I would like to see because I like having daily contact with my players,” he said. “We have online meetings and training sessions with them three times a day and they all have to submit their running stats to a private group app.”

Meanwhile, former Rotherham centre-half John Haselden has died aged 76.

The defender made 117 appearances for the club in the 1960s and played in the two FA Cup ties against Manchester United in 1966 when the Millers lost out 1-0 in a fourth-round replay at Millmoor after a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.

He arrived as a teenager from Denaby United and eventually replaced Peter Madden during the managerial reign of Jack Mansell.