WEMUSTKEEP CLUBSAFLOAT
are looking at and why. Then the players can decide. “At the end of the day the players have contracts. If they are willing to defer payments then that’s fantastic. “But if they’re not then you have to agree on the contract. “I have said all along that if it comes to the point, no matter what club, where the manager and the players contracts are paid up and they have to leave to save the club then that’s what happens. You have to rebuild. “I don’t think Hibs and Hearts will be the only teams. From what I hear there’s lots of others that are struggling. “The most important thing is the club surviving. I look at our club. Albion Rovers are still paying our wages which is fantastic for a club our size and the budget we have and the crowds we get. “Why is it different for the bigger clubs? They may speculate to accumulate whereas we work to a very, very tight budget. We have not got an overdraft facility of a million pound that we can dip into here, there and everywhere. Our club is run to the penny.
“We are fortunate with our fan base as well. They have a justgiving page which has raised over £7000 and we are really appreciative of that.”
Harper has never known a situation like the current one despite a career that took him from Hibs to Derby, Portsmouth and Stoke before he finished with Dunfermline.
He did have the threat of having his wages withheld by madcap chairman Milan Mandaric at
Portsmouth after a shock FA Cup defeat by Leyton Orient. The 44-year-old said: “I’ve never been at a club where they are going to go out of business or anything.
“At one point at Portsmouth we had to get the PFA involved.
“We had been knocked out of the Cup by a team in the bottom division and we were a Championship club at the time.
“It only lasted from the Friday until we got paid on the Tuesday though. We had a meeting on the Monday and the chairman accepted he couldn’t do it. The next day our wages were paid.”
Harper, a father of four, is in lockdown with his family at their home in Stepps.
He sees no possible way the season can end with his side second bottom of League Two but seven points clear of Brechin with a game in hand.
He said: “At our level players will have booked family holidays. If those holidays go ahead then I don’t think they are going to cancel a holiday worth four figures for one week’s wages.
“Players on £100 a week can’t really afford that after saving up all year for it.”
FROM BACK PAGE everyone in football can manage to battle their way through the crisis and somehow come out the other side without that strength being badly weakened by the current problems.
And the Hoops gaffer feels sympathy at the plight of fellow clubs and professionals.
Lennon said: “Definitely. There are great guys out there and good football people.
“So it is important that we keep these clubs afloat and we maintain the Scottish game as it is because it is strong – or it was strong until this.
“It was a really good product for the size of the country and we must try to keep it that way if we can.
“We’re just working day to day. You can’t have a fixed date in mind as it’s impossible to know.
“All the clubs want the season finished and all the countries and the associations want that. We’re no different.
“But we can’t put dates on things and a lot of clubs are going to need financial remuneration from associations eventually.”
Lennon is in limbo at the moment with football taking a back seat.
And he has joined with the rest of the population in concentrating his efforts towards backing the frontline workers and services who are trying to pull the country through the crisis.
With lives at stake across the globe there can be no set dates for sport to return and the Parkhead manager fully understands priorities lie away from the game right now.
He said: “I don’t know what is going to happen in the next few weeks. It’s too hard to predict.
“There is no point in me coming out and saying this, that and the other as we just don’t know.
“We will be guided by the government and the associations.”
Players are on lockdown at the moment and, as well as being unable to train their troops, managers are also in no position to make precise forward plans regarding squads and transfers.
As well as trying to reschedule the calendar, FIFA and UEFA are having to try to put plans together for an altered transfer window that can help countries to get their seasons finished.
Loan players may be allowed to stay at their current bases.
And out-of-contract players may have their deals extended until there is a conclusion to the crisis.
Lennon has players such as Fraser Forster and Mohamed Elyounoussi on loan from Southampton.
And other stars such as Craig Gordon and Jonny Hayes are coming to the end of their current agreements.
However, the Celtic boss admits his hands are tied in such matters at the moment.
Lennon added: “We can speak with them.
“But in terms of what we can do going forward we don’t really know what we can and can’t do as yet as the season is yet to finish.
“There are so many imponderables. I keep hearing that word ‘unprecedented’ being used a lot.
“But it’s the perfect word for the situation that we find ourselves in as there are so many different outcomes and circumstances which could happen.”