Cash-strapped Wofoo Tai Po officials might have to ‘dig deep into their own pockets’ to pay players
- The defending champions will first cover March’s salary before meeting players again next week
- Coach Fung says players have taken up part-time jobs as drivers or mechanical workers to make ends meet
Cash-strapped Wofoo Tai Po might have to dig deep into their own pockets to help resolve the financial dispute with their players after club officials met the Labour Department in Sha Tin on Wednesday.
Club officials said they were only able to settle the players’ salary for March with the 2019 Premier League champions “running out of money” after their mainland sponsors backed out during the coronavirus pandemic.
Club secretary Chan Ping and players’ representatives, including former coach Fung Hoi-man, Felix Luk Ping-chung and Philip To held a meeting with the Labour Department with only the promise that they would settle part of the players’ wages.
“We are taking the first step by paying the remaining 40 per cent salary [of March] by this week,” said Chan, blaming the sponsors pull-out for putting the club in such a predicament. “We will then meet again next week and hopefully we can iron out something by that time.
“The club is already running out of money after our sponsor stopped funding us in March. In fact I have to dig into my own pocket to pay the remaining salary for March.”