Jordan Henderson felt that former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s position on footballers and their pay during the pandemic was a “low blow”, a departure from the “pressure he was under”.
When the pandemic brought the UK and the world to a standstill and emergency services were under extraordinary pressure, there were many accusations.
Despite digging all the holes themselves, the Conservatives did a lot of it, and former Health Secretary Hancock engaged in his fair share of diversion.
That extended to Premier League footballers, whom he asked to take a pay cut to play “their part in this national endeavour”, even though he never intended to do so himself.
Unbeknownst to Hancock, however, Henderson was leading the Players Together initiative, which has raised millions to support NHS staff during the pandemic.
.@JHenderson says Matt Hancock’s comment about footballers taking pay cuts during pandemic was a ‘low blow’
He adds that many players were already in the process of trying to help and he was happy that the money raised went to “good causes” @BethRigby pic.twitter.com/UtiU78Xc4h
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 29, 2022
It’s one of numerous initiatives Henderson has supported, and when speaking to Sky News on a program he sponsors to get kids involved in football, he was asked if Hancock’s words were a cheap shot.
“Yeah, it was a low blow,” Henderson said.
“I don’t know why, what the motive was, if it was to deflect from the pressure he was under, but again, for us, we were already in the process of doing things.
“We felt a responsibility as a group of players from all over the league, that we were in a privileged position, we can really help, and we all got together, all the captains.
“We raised a lot of money. We didn’t put the numbers there.
“We thought it would never be enough, really, and we didn’t want people to know what it was because no matter how much we raised, it wasn’t so much about that, it was about people coming together to support people in need at the time. .”
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