The Premier League leaders said staff would be paid 100 percent of their salaries to ensure nobody was financially disadvantaged.

A club statement said there was “a collective commitment at senior levels of the club – on and off the pitch – with everyone working towards a solution that secures jobs for employees of the club during this unprecedented crisis”.

Burnley chairman Mike Garlick said the Covid-19 crisis was a uniquely challenging time for clubs, in addressing the possibility of a huge financial hit.

“It’s a completely unprecedented situation that we and other Premier League clubs face and which we could not have foreseen in any way only just a few weeks ago,” he said.

“It’s now not just about Burnley or any other individual club any more, it’s about the whole football ecosystem from the Premier League downwards and all the other businesses and communities that feed from that ecosystem.”

The Premier League said on Friday that the 2019/20 season would only return when it was “safe and appropriate to do so”.

The league agreed to provide a £125 million fund for the English Football League and National League and pledged £20 million in charitable support for the National Health Service and other groups