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PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor may face further questioning as it emerges he is still paying himself £2.2m
Gordon Taylor, the embattled PFA chief executive, could face further questions from a Charity Commission investigation after it emerged he has continued to receive a hugely controversial £2.2 million pay packet.
The overall package of £2.29m, including a basic salary of £1.2m, a bonus of over £777,000 and additional allowances, is set to be published by Companies House this month. It is the same amount as last year, which was condemned at the time as "absolutely scandalous" by former England defender Graeme Le Saux.
The Charity Commission is already looking into whether the PFA Charity is effectively funding the salary of Taylor and whether this is normal and appropriate. Officials could also now consider whether this is a reasonable salary. It does not represent a formal Charity Commission inquiry, but the Charity Commission confirmed a regulatory compliance case into the PFA is ongoing.
According to the accounts for the year to June 2018, the accounts also show the PFA spent just £125,000 on funding head injury research, via a contribution to Football's Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk. Taylor's stewardship of the players' union has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, and he has been forced to commission an independent review of the organisation.
A study of charity pay in 2017, by Third Sector, found an average top pay at general charities of £186,000 per year. Taylor, who is regularly described as the highest-paid trade union official in the world, has now earned £2.29m including his salary, bonus and benefits in consecutive years.
The Charity Commission investigation has focussed on how the PFA General Fund charges the PFA Charity for expenses, and the suggestion that this provides sufficient income to cover salaries, including Taylor's hugely controversial pay packet.
The PFA has been embroiled in a civil war since Ben Purkiss, its chairman, publicly called for modernisation. Taylor agreed in November to an independent review of an organisation he has led for the past 37 years.
"We are aware of concerns regarding the expenditure of the Professional Footballers' Association Charity and we will be engaging with the trustees to establish the facts," a Charity Commission spokesman previously told The Daily Telegraph.
"Trustees should be able to demonstrate that all decisions around expenditure have been carefully considered in line with the best interests of their charity and those it is set up to help."
The Premier League insists that "a significant majority of the funds provided are spent on charitable and good causes, as well as football development" although "a proportion of what the Premier League provides is available to be used at the PFA's discretion".
Taylor, who played for Bolton, Birmingham, Blackpool and Bury during an 18-year professional career and has been chief executive of the PFA since 1981, has always defended how his organisation spends money. However, the PFA has come under a barrage of criticism since Purkiss had his eligibility for the chairman's role questioned over his status as a non-contract player at Walsall.
A spokesman for Taylor declined to comment.