Eddie Howe has become the first Premier League manager to take a voluntary pay cut, offering to work on substantially reduced wages at Bournemouth as top-flight clubs begin to get to grips with the coronavirus pandemic. Howe, who earns £3m a year, and his assistant, Jason Tindall, are among four of the club’s highest earners to volunteer a decrease in wages with immediate effect, with the technical director, Richard Hughes, and chief executive, Neill Blake, also taking significant cuts in pay for the foreseeable future. Bournemouth have placed more than 50 staff on furlough but have agreed to top up government payments to ensure employees continue to be paid in full. Officials from the Premier League, Professional Footballers’ Association and the English Football League are expected to reconvene on Friday to determine solutions regarding player wages after discussions on Wednesday. A variety of approaches have been taken so far, including Leeds players agreeing a wage deferral, Birmingham players being asked to accept a 50% cut in pay and Forest Green putting their squad on furlough. The first-team squads of several top European clubs including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus have agreed wage cuts. Howe’s wage cut comes a day after the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, urged Premier League managers and players to sacrifice some of their income during football’s enforced shutdown. “We hope the discussions between the Premier League, PFA and LMA will result in players and coaches doing their bit for the football ecosystem,” Levy said. Bournemouth have joined Norwich, Newcastle and Tottenham in furloughing employees, some of whom are club shop, catering and hospitality staff. Bournemouth said the move would “safeguard the financial stability of the club during what is such an uncertain period, not only in football but for businesses in all industries across the world”. A statement from the board added: “There is no script for moments like this. No tactics and no set plays to find a winning formula. But as a board we are continually looking at ways to ensure the future of the club and our employees is protected when the season returns.” On Tuesday Howe said he was concerned for the “mental wellbeing” of some his players amid the absence of football. He told the Daily Echo: “The guys with families will probably have their days filled up, like mine are being, with their children, having people around the house and not feeling isolated. “But it’s the single guys, maybe the people that don’t have a wife or a girlfriend and definitely don’t have kids. They are the ones I am most worried about. I have tried to keep in contact with the players as best I can, without ringing up with nothing to say.” Swansea City of the Championship announced voluntary wage deferrals on Wednesday, with manager Steve Cooper and Trevor Birch taking temporary pay cuts after the club confirmed the majority of non-playing staff will be placed on furlough. Last month Swansea offered the use of their Liberty Stadium to the emergency services to aid the battle against the coronavirus crisis. Brentford are understood to be close to reaching an agreement with their players over taking a temporary wage cut and Birch suggested Swansea’s players could follow suit following talks between football’s stakeholders across the next 48 hours.