Former Republic of Ireland international and Premier League footballer Jonathan Walters reserved special praise for Stoke City when he spoke to Off The Ball on Friday.
He may be newly retired from professional football, but that is not to say that Jonathan Walters has lost any of the passion that endeared him so regularly to Republic of Ireland fans.
Speaking exclusively to Off The Ball on Friday night, Walters, in light of comments made by the British health secretary Matt Hancock about how professional footballers in the Premier League could be doing more to tackle the impact COVID-19 is having on the economy, stood firmly by his former colleagues.
"It always come on footballers," remarked Walters. "Is that because he's there in London and picking on the bankers is not the done thing? I don't know, but it easy to pick on a working-class sport.
"There are people that earn more being a banker and there are other sports people who earn a lot more than most footballers. Matt Hancock coming out and saying something, I just didn't really understand it and it got my back up a little bit."
As the world rapidly adapts to the changes brought about by the spread of this coronavirus disease, Jonathan Walters did reserve special praise for one of his former clubs and the actions they have taken, Stoke City.
"Stoke City came out before there was any government scheme and acted," he remarked of the measures taken by the Championship club to tackle the impact that a halt to football would have on the club's staff.
According to reports in the Stoke Sentinel, match-day staff were told that they would be paid despite games being postponed, while full-time staff were assured of their salaries for the next five months.
Jonathan Walters, who spent seven seasons with the club in the Premier League, wasn't remotely surprised by this act.
"I knew through a WhatsApp group," he explained with a laugh of a group that had not yet removed the former Irish international, "that people there were full of praise for how the owners had dealt with things, communicating with them immediately and looking after them until August.
"That was a great gesture from the club, but that's Stoke City, that's always been Stoke City. For me, you should always look after the people who are the life and soul of the club.
"These are people who've been at the club far longer than players and will be there far longer after. They're the real people of the club."
You can watch back Jonathan Walters' interview in full here.
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