Insolvency expert Bryan Jackson backs fans to ‘save’ Scottish football

Resilience of the supporters will see clubs through

Bryan Jackson has confidence in the resilience of Scottish football clubs. Picture: SNS

The road to recovery may yet prove to be a long one but Scottish football will survive the current turmoil, according to a man used to guiding clubs through financial crises.

Bryan Jackson has decades of experience in insolvency and recovery work and has worked on administrations at Clyde, Clydebank, Dundee, Dunfermline, Motherwell and Hearts but he is backing cash-strapped clubs to navigate a way through the difficulties cast up by the coronavirus pandemic.

Many clubs have been moth-balled since the mid-March lockdown and although the Premiership teams are preparing for a behind-closed-doors return to action in August, the remainder of the SPFL member clubs are facing a longer spell on the sidelines, with the possibility that some will not be able to resume play until crowds can be welcomed back, in the new year.

With TV deals still to be settled, season ticket refunds to be paid and no income from hospitality, the concerns have been exacerbated by contentious decision-making at boardroom level, which has resulted in Hearts and Partick Thistle waging a legal battle that could leave their counterparts facing a collective bill of up to £10 million.

That has sparked fury from some owners and chairmen who claim their very existence could be threatened, but Jackson says it would be wrong to underestimate the durability of football clubs. Even in the darkest moments.

“Scottish football is robust and I think it will survive this and come through it. People are really missing it,” said Jackson, who works as a consultant with Johnston Carmichael, the Glasgow-based chartered accountants.

“It will probably take a couple of years to recover because we are already looking at least half a season without people. So clubs will have to cover their expenditure and it is a vicious circle. They might incur a bit of debt so they will have to claw that back so I can imagine that it will maybe be a couple of years until we get back to where we were.”

Although Jackson previously raised fears over whether fans would be able to step up in quite the same way or in the same numbers as they have in the past due to the economic strain every business is under during, there are already signs that supporters will again rally to help ease some of the financial strain.

“That is what so often saves clubs in the end – the fans – isn’t it? It is their continued support that clubs rely on and although that may be quite difficult for some people just now, with people losing their jobs or being furloughed, the clubs will need the fans.

“The Hearts fans are quite incredible and it will be their resilience and loyalty and continued support that will make it easier for the club to bounce back.

“I think that clubs will survive because of the resilience of the supporters. It is not just Hearts supporters. If you look at season tickets that have been sold by every club, considering the fact so many supporters don’t actually have jobs at the moment and others who don’t know what their employment status is going to be as we move on from this, that shows you the resilience that is there in Scottish football.

“The reason I think most, if not all the clubs will survive, is that they are in a better position than businesses in many non-footballing industries. What football has got, that is not on the balance sheet, is a hardset core of fans who are willing to get behind it.

“An engineering company doesn’t have that so it may not recover from a crisis like this whereas football clubs have always got that in the background.

“Football fans are always willing to do all that they can to help their club survive. That, potentially, is what will save clubs and save the Scottish football industry in the end. It’s that continued support, even in really difficult times, that gives football clubs that resilience.”

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