LONDON: England's football club Bournemouth have announced that the club will no longer be furloughing its non-playing staff and instead will be paying the salaries of all employees in full.
With this, Bournemouth has become the third team after Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur to reverse their furlough decision.
"Earlier this month we announced that a number of staff at AFC Bournemouth were being temporarily furloughed, and that we would utilise the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. These measures were not taken lightly, given the operational pressures placed on clubs in such uncertain times," Bournemouth said in an official statement.
"However well-placed our intentions were, we are aware of criticisms levelled at Premier League clubs applying for this scheme. We have listened to our supporters and have reversed our decision to furlough these employees," the statement added.
Earlier this month, Bournemouth had announced that they would be utilising the UK Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which covers 80 per cent of an employees wages.
The club had vowed to pay out the remaining 20 per cent of each staff member's salary.
In addition, club chief executive Neill Blake, first team technical director Richard Hughes, manager Eddie Howe and assistant manager Jason Tindall all took significant, voluntary pay cuts," Goal.com reported.
After taking the pay cut, Howe became the first Premier League manager to do so due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With Bournemouth reversing its furlough decision, Newcastle United and Norwich City are the only Premier League sides left who are still furloughing employees.
The Premier League has been suspended since early March due to COVID-19.