Government wage support ‘huge’ for struggling Scottish clubs during coronavirus crisis

Scottish football clubs fearing for their futures as the result of the indefinite football shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic appear to have been handed a lifeline with a bail-out package announced by the UK government last night.

SFA vice-chairman and Alloa Athletic chairman Mike Mulraney says Government support could be 'really significant' for Scottish clubs. Picture: Craig Foy/SNS

One club owner described it as “potentially huge” for the game in this country that chancellor Rishi Sunak is to offer grants covering 80 percent of the wages of employees whose livelihoods have been threatened by the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak .

The scheme covers salaries up to the level of £2,500 a month, will be backdated to the start of March, and will be in place within weeks.

The modest level of most Scottish player salaries – the biggest outgoing of the 42 league clubs – means clubs from all three lower leagues, and some players in the Premiership set-up, would have four-fifths of their wages essentially underwritten by the government. Sunak said there was no limit of time for the package, which will initially run for the next three months and is aimed at preventing large-scale job losses.

In recent days, the panic created by the absence of football income for the foreseeable future – probably until August – has resulted in a variety of clubs taking steps to reduce salary liabilities.

Hearts owner Ann Budge has asked the club’s employees to accept a 50 per cent wage reduction, with Montrose and Dumbarton also stating they will have to ask players to accept pay cuts.

Other clubs have appealed for donations from supporters as they struggle to see how they can pay the bills without gate receipts for five months.

That perilous situation, which has given rise to bleak predictions that many clubs could fold, may now be 
survivable.

Mike Mulraney, SFA vice-chairman and chairman of Alloa Athletic, who sits on the SFA/SPFL joint response group set up to deal with the issues arising from the coronavirus crisis was reluctant to make a judgment on the measures announced.

He revealed that the Scottish football authorities spent last night poring over the detail of the chancellor’s scheme with the view to communicating to member clubs at the earliest opportunity what the moves could mean for them.

“It could be really significant for our members,” Mulraney did say. “Put it this way, I’m happier than not that something is being done.”

Sunak appealed to employers and businesses facing financial hardship to “stand behind your workers” as he said the government was standing behind them. That is a sentiment that will find favour with PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart who yesterday “implored” clubs “ to speak to players to find achievable and realistic outcomes”.