Something had to give.
Even the venture capitalists who run Liverpool could not project their club as mattering more, then end up on the same side of the furlough argument as Mike Ashley and Daniel Levy.
So yesterday evening, having come under enormous pressure from fans, critics and those, like Jamie Carragher, who would be considered club royalty, Liverpool relented on their extraordinary decision to furlough non-playing staff.
It did not matter that — unlike Levy’s Tottenham — they were going to make up the balance in full.