David Haythornthwaite warns his AFC Fylde players they may be forced to take a pay cut due to coronavirus pandemic

A number of non-league clubs will inevitably struggle to make ends meet due to the current suspension of English football.

As it stands, no further fixtures are due to take place until April 30 at the earliest, meaning no income from match day ticket sales.

That’s already led to the likes of Barnet and Chorley forcing to put their non-playing staff on notice.

One idea, put forward by former Crystal Palace owner and talkSPORT contributor Simon Jordan, is for Premier League players to take a pay cut.

Haythornthwaite discussed the idea on the radio station this morning, suggesting players even further down the pyramid will still have to “contribute”.

He said: “There’s been no leadership, from what I can see, from anyone within the FA or at a high level to really talk about the elephant in the room.

“That, as Simon Jordan touched upon, is players’ wages. It’s the players now who are going to have to contribute.

“Players are in a pretty unique position because a lot of them are on two and three-year contracts. Therefore it’s technically very difficult to ask them to take a pay cut.

“I really think we should be taking a lead and everybody should be sharing this pain together.

“I think some of Simon’s suggestions are great, but I would take it even a step further. Our club, and a lot of other clubs in our league, can also take pay cuts.

“Our top earner at Fylde is on £900 per week as a basic salary. In this situation, nobody needs to be on £900 a week.

“A lot of other people are being asked to take significant pay cuts, I’m talking 50 or 60 per cent, to get us through this difficult period.

“We need to find a way how we can collectively be able to talk to the footballers and get them to share this pain without them having the threat of their contracts being put in front of us.”