This will hurt, but we will be stronger
HUDDERSFIELD Town’s chief executive Mark Devlin says the Covid-19 pandemic has played havoc with the club’s summer transfer plans.
Devlin, recently appointed to the role, admits the club will ‘have to be smart’ in the post-coronavirus world.
“I’m working through plans to reshape the business because we potentially are looking at anywhere up to the end of this year without really bringing in any revenue in terms of potentially playing football without fans in the stadium,” he said.
“It’s going to be really difficult for the players, it takes something away from the sport and actually can cost clubs money.
“We are managing our cash really carefully. I suspect every club is having to do that. We are having to look at everything we spend.
“The club will get through this, but we will hurt. You can’t go seven, eight, nine months without revenue coming into the business and still have the outflow at the other end, without it not hurting.
“We will hurt, but we will come through it and we will be better for the experience. It’ll challenge the football club, but we will come out stronger.
“We won’t be alone in that, most clubs, if not all, will be in the same boat. The club will come through it and we will still be around.
“We will, like other clubs, be bruised, but that will make us operate in a different way and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
In terms of forward planning, Devlin admits that previously-arranged plans are now effectively ‘up in the air’ but that he hopes for some clarity from the EFL in the coming days and weeks.
He added: “Hopefully we will begin to see some certainly about the rest of this season, and next season going forward.
“The transfer market, nobody knows what that’ll look like or how long it’ll be.
“We had certain plans and had budgeted to do certain things both incoming and outgoing during the normal transfer period, but all of that is now up in the air, it’s changed all of that.”