Scotland’s big five clubs should say ‘thanks but no thanks’ to cash injection

JAMES ANDERSON ponying up to help out Scottish football is an admirable act of kindness during these dark days for our game.

Chucking more than £3million into the pot when our game needs it most should be welcomed with open arms and it might just be the injection some of our smaller clubs need to survive this.

At a time when folk are pulling down statues of history’s biggest a ******* s all over the shop, there might end up being bronze casts of this guy outside grounds up and down the country.

Fifty grand might be small change to some but it’s a lifeline to others.

But it also won’t hit the sides when it comes to the finances of plenty of other clubs who are being squeezed to the point of screaming by this coronavirus carry on.

Which is why the distribution of the dosh might not be the best, even if every little helps.

Never mind a bronze statue, the likes of Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs would have brass necks if they pocket their £50k cheques.

This money should go where it’s needed. Helping the Premiership teams who need it to function behind closed doors, in to the Championship to give them half a chance of getting up and running at all, and down to the lower levels who are now wondering what the heck to do when the furlough money is done.

The cash injection is a bit like the Government’s job retention scheme. It was rolled out across the board and it gave some pretty unscrupulous characters a get-out-ofjail-free card.

Companies with millions and billions in the bank and have boards who pay themselves eyewatering dividends have been too quick to let Westminster take the hit – which will mean us taxpayers will be the ones who end up getting our pockets dipped in the long run.

Nothing comes for free, but these opportunistic chancers have let Joe Public carry the can to protect their profits.

Clubs in this country are different – money doesn’t come easy to our lot.

But that doesn’t mean the big clubs can’t take a hike up to the moral high ground for a change.

Celtic will be feeling the hit from Covid-19 more than anyone. They might have the most dosh in the bank but they also have the greatest overheads.

Rangers might be fuelled by goodwill and generous benefactors but they can afford to stump up to buy players when the market is on its backside.

The likes of Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs are also losing cash but they all have thousands of loyal fans who have already stumped up for season tickets for matches that could be played in Narnia for all we know.

They can cope without an extra fifty grand. Others can’t.

We’re all getting fed up at seeing how smart the Germans are. Okay, they handled the virus a million times better than our halfwits in charge, they got their football back behind closed doors weeks ago and the trains still run on time.

The blooming Germans are constantly giving us a showing up and they have done so right from the start.

The big four teams in the Bundesliga – the ones who have been regularly boosted by Champions League cash – donated £20m to help the rest stay afloat.

Now that is a proper show of unity.

It would be nice if our guys could take note. No one is asking them to find that kind of dough – or even stump up at all.

But saying thanks, but no thanks, to Anderson would be a decent start.

It would chuck another quarter of a million back into the pot – and that could be the difference in our Premiership getting started again or not.

Because we still don’t really know if we can pull this off yet.

Club bean counters are still frantically trying to do their sums and hoping the virtual season tickets and TV cash can cover the wages while the fans are shut out.

Sides like Kilmarnock, Ross County and also Motherwell won’t have any problems with social distancing when they return to training as they have barely enough players right now for a game of five-a-sides.

They are not robbing Peter to pay Paul, they are grabbing Peter and Paul, shaking them upside down and seeing if any pennies fall out.

Scottish football is on the buroo, but not everyone should be queueing up to claim benefits.

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