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Scottish clubs take big financial hit

Many Scottish football clubs could go bust in the next few months if they do not receive emergency funding says football finance expert Kieran Maguire: Funding needed to survive outbreak

Maguire said: 'What football now has is a cash flow crisis. Match day sales account for around half of the money taken in by Scottish clubs. They are reliant on supporters coming through the turnstiles to pay the bills. Even if they return to a scenario where matches are taking place behind closed doors in order to complete the season that is not going to address the problems that the clubs have. Having season ticket money in will negate cash flow issues for the bigger clubs. If you are a smaller club then your finances tend to be quite precarious.

Dunfermline Athletic had been on budget until the crisis struck, but are now hoping that season ticket sales in May will provide much needed cash flow: Dunfermline

South of the border there have been calls for Premier League clubs to fund their poorer counterparts, but with their own financial challenges, they are unlikely to be willing to do this. It is unlikely to happen in Scotland either.

Hearts owner Ann Budge, yesterday revealed the shutdown, which was only announced on Friday, had already left a £1 million void in the Tynecastle club’s finances and described the situation as 'serious'. Budge, whose 75.1 majority shareholding was due to be transferred to the Foundation of Hearts supporters’ group imminently, had budgeted for an income of £500,000 from four upcoming home fixtures and expected the club to bank the same amount from the cup semi-final.'

'In the blink of an eye, £1 million that we anticipated having as income in April has gone,' she said. 'That has a huge impact on any club. All clubs will have similar problems, maybe not to the same extent, but that's money we thought we would have that we won't have. Add to that the fact that we've spent a lot on infrastructure. Why? So that we can actually run events and have an income stream outside of football. We can't run events any more. From Friday, we were having all sorts of things cancelled. Our non-football income has also taken a hit.'

In a shock move Hearts have announced that they are halving the salaries of all staff.

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