As football continues to adapt to life during the coronavirus pandemic, it is the players, not club bosses and league officials, that will emerge from it all with the most credit.
Widely derided for their wage deferral stand-off with the Premier League and unfairly called out by Health Secretary Matt Hancock during one of the government's daily public press conferences, it is believable that players were beginning to feel like scapegoats to the cause of battling the deadly virus.
'Play your part' was the message from Hancock. It was a not-so-subtle dig and went some way to disregarding all of the charity work players have been doing outside of the exhausting meetings regarding league-wide wage cuts.
In the end, players took the bull by the horns, so to speak.
On Thursday, Southampton became the first top-flight side to announce they have independently reached a wage deferral agreement - taking the decision out of the hands of the league - with their players following the coronavirus outbreak.
Southampton's stars will each give up a percentage of their salaries for April, May and June to help protect the jobs of staff across the club. Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, his coaching staff and the club's board will do likewise.
The sacrifice made by the highest-paid members of Southampton’s staff ensures the club have not had to make use of the Government Job Retention Scheme for the next few months and furlough any non-playing employees.
Players, given they have struck no agreement with the league thus far, could now look to solve cuts on a club-by-club basis, just like Southampton.
Julian Knight, of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, has been a vocal critic. MP for Tottenham David Lammy had said on social media recently that it is 'criminal' players haven't had wages cut.
In short: few groups in society have been targeted and criticised as much as Premier League footballers have during the pandemic.
A meeting with the Premier League on Saturday proved fruitless with players reported to be wary of 'hidden cuts' in the 30 per cent proposal and they have been on course for a PR disaster. Now Southampton's players could pave the way for others to follow.
The public narrative appeared to show players as greedy and uninterested in parting with millions for the coming months.
It left a sour taste in the mouths of football fans and even ex-players, who urged players to do the right thing and end the PR disaster they found themselves in.
But the tide is changing. Wolves players and staff made a six-figure donation - separate to their involvement in #PlayersTogether - to Wolverhampton NHS Trust on Thursday to aid the ongoing fight against Covid-19.
The sum will assist three hospitals - New Cross Hospital, West Park Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital - as well as several community and primary care trusts in the area.
Wolves captain Conor Coady said: 'All of us in the squad, the boss and the staff wanted to do something significant to help Wolverhampton and the people of this city at what is a really difficult and challenging time for all of us.'
On Wednesday night, it felt like a landmark moment for players as one entity.
It was the players, not the clubs or the league, that stepped up - earning praise from the previously critical Hancock - and it has gone some distance to rewriting their PR campaign during this global health crisis.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has emerged as the key figure, a driving force, rightly singled out for special praise in getting the #PlayersTogether initiative off the ground.
The cause, publicly backed by more than 160 players, aims to 'distribute money to where it is needed most' in the fight against the global pandemic.
Funds will go to 'those fighting for us on the NHS frontline as well as other key areas of need', a statement announced.
'This is a critical time for our country and for our NHS,' the statement continued, 'and we are determined to help in any way that we can.
'The contributions will help NHSCT quickly grant funds to the front line to support in a number of ways.'
Given a staggering 92 per cent of British people think Premier League players should take a pay cut during the coronavirus crisis, according to a YouGov Sport survey, the new initiative launched on Wednesday changes the narrative around greed and generosity of players.
Suddenly, players had gone from vilified and criticised to praised for their smart and generous donation. The criticism must ease from the stars and switch to the club owners, who continue to make decisions to furlough their non-playing staff, such as Tottenham and Newcastle.
Spurs are the eighth richest club in the world, owner Joe Lewis is valued at £4.3bn and yet they have placed 550 non-playing staff members onto the government's furlough scheme. How is that possible?
A club statement by chairman Daniel Levy - who earns £7million following a bonus - said the move was necessary 'to save jobs' but the use of state money, taxpayers money, was criticised given its expediency of the system.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden pointed to rich billionaire owners, rather than players, and the furlough scheme as one area that needs to be called out for its sheer opportunism.
'I just think they need to think carefully about whether they really need to take advantage of this,' he said on Tuesday.
'This scheme is designed for struggling businesses to make sure, if they are faced with the position where they have to make staff redundant, rather than making them redundant they furlough them on 80% of their wages so they can bring them back when business picks up.
'So football clubs should only be using it as a last resort, I think the fans and the public at large are going to take a pretty dim view if they're not using it except in the last resort.
He added: 'I've made that pretty clear, this scheme wasn't designed for the people who have millionaire players and billionaire owners, people should take responsibility, clubs should take responsibility.'
Liverpool committed to furloughing staff before a public backlash prompted an embarrassing u-turn.
But Tottenham and Newcastle are not alone, other clubs are following and critics should now follow Dowden's lead. Singling out the players is wrong and unjust at this point given their level of generosity.
While players continue to go out of their way to make their own donations, whether it is Danny Rose sending hundreds of pizza to a London hospital along with a £19,000 donation or Liverpool's Andy Robertson helping keep six Glasgow foodbanks running, bashing top Premier League stars now seems wholly misplaced.
Scotland captain Robertson, who reportedly earns around £60,000 per week, has ensured that Glasgow SW Foodbank, Glasgow NW Foodbank, Glasgow SE Foodbank, Rutherglen & Cambuslang Foodbank and East Renfrewshire Foodbank can continue to operate during difficult circumstances.
There has not been just a handful of token gestures, either.
Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has offered up the 50 properties in his housing portfolio to NHS staff so those on the frontline have accommodation near their hospitals.
Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has been particularly active in his charity work with action currently suspended.
The 22-year-old England international has been vocal on social media about his work with FareShare - the UK’s largest charity for fighting hunger and food waste - by helping more than 740,000 vulnerable children across the UK with any donations earned.
He has been working towards raising £100,000 through his work with the charity.
Manchester United's players went further as Sportsmail exclusively revealed last week that players had agreed to donate 30 per cent of their monthly salaries - to the tune of £3.5m - to send it to local NHS services.
International stars such as Sadio Mane and Tottenham's Son Heung-min have sent money back to their home countries to help in the pandemic.
Mane made the honourable gesture of donating £41,000 to the Senegal health organisation to help bolster resources in his homeland while Spurs forward Son donated £68,000 to a non-profit organisation in South Korea.
Paul Pogba donated £27,000 for his 27th birthday, matching money for charity raised from supporters' donations.
Players are stepping up, have stepped up, and will continue to 'play their part' so constant criticism insinuating greed and selfishness needs to stop in the wake of #PlayersTogether.
Criticism for episodes such as Tottenham players, along with boss Jose Mourinho, training in a London park despite lockdown measures will - and should - be condemned.
Mourinho, who had earned good PR by delivering food to residents in the Enfield area in a partnership with Age UK, admitted his mistake.
Mourinho, who was spoken to by unhappy Spurs chiefs, said: 'I accept that my actions were not in line with Government protocol and we must only have contact with members of our own household.'
But that scrutiny that was shining down on players now needs to go on club executives using government furlough bail-outs and on the league as a whole, having still been unsuccessful in their public back-and-forth with the PFA over what they are going to do with wages.
The fact that Southampton have been able to reach a wage cut agreement with their own squad while the league dithers shows whose door criticism should lay at.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com