Newcastle United players were keen to donate urgent funds to the NHS frontline during private talks amid the virus pandemic.
ChronicleLive understands that Jamaal Lascelles, Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie, Jonjo Shelvey and Florian Lejeune were all key men in the club's efforts to join up with other Premier League stars and set up the #playerstogether fund.
However, EVERY single player at Newcastle has signed up to the project, including those with uncertain futures such as Jack Colback, Rob Elliot and Matty Longstaff.
The Toon squad were rightly irked by comments from MP Matt Hancock who called out players to do more.
But understandably players from all Premier League clubs wanted more information from the top-flight to establish exactly where the 30% salary demand was heading to.
Players like Lascelles, Paul Dummett, Miguel Almiron and Lejeune all took to Twitter and Instagram to get behind the scheme last night.
A joint statement read: "Over the course of the last week we, as a group of Premier League players, have held numerous talks together with the vision of creating a contribution fund that can be used to distribute money to where it's needed most in this COVID-19 crisis; helping those fighting for us on the NHS frontline as well as other key areas of need.
"This is a critical time for our country and for our NHS, and we are determined to help in any way we can.
"We can confirm that after extensive conversations between a huge number of players from all Premier League clubs, we have created our own collective player initiative, #PlayersTogether, and have partnered with NHS Charities Together (NHSCT) in order to assist them in generating and distributing funds quickly and efficiently to where they are needed most.
"NHSCT is the national umbrella organisation for over 150 registered NHS charities, working closely with the Charity Commission, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England to represent, champion and support the NHS' official charities. NHSCT are the official charity of the NHS nationally."
Earlier this week former England skipper Wayne Rooney had blasted critics and told the Sunday Times: "If the government approached me to help support nurses financially or buy ventilators, I'd be proud to do so - as long as I knew where the money was going."
