Birmingham City have become the first Championship club to ask their players to take wage deferrals amid the coronavirus pandemic. Players earning more than £6,000 a week at St Andrew’s have been asked to take a 50% cut in their salary for the next four months it is understood.

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The money will be paid back in stages when the season restarts, with English football postponed until 30 April at the earliest to try to combat the spread of the virus.

The Telegraph reported Birmingham sent an email to agents asking for their help in the matter: “Given the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in as a football club, as a business and as a country as a whole, we are reaching out to you in order to request your agreeance to a short-term deduction in wages in order to assist the club to continue to run on a day-to-day basis in the current climate.”

Championship clubs discussed the prospect of wage deferrals last week as they look to stave off financial problems, with the Blues unlikely to be the only side taking such measures.