SFA reveal £1.5m fighting fund to help ease pain of coronavirus chaos
SFA pinning hopes on relief package to help ailing clubs
THE SFA last night announced a £1.5million emergency relief package for crisis-hit clubs. Cash due to be paid to SPFL sides in October will now be handed out immediately to stem the financial chaos caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
UEFA’s benchmark report of 2018 revealed clubs in the Scottish leagues are three times more reliant on gate receipts than the European average.
And as fears rise of a shutdown until August, the SFA have been forced to advance cash from Club Licensing and Club Academy Scotland award payments.
‘Given the financial uncertainty faced by clubs, we have looked at areas of distribution where we can accelerate and pay now, rather than wait to pay on the usual distribution dates,’ said SFA president Rod Petrie.
‘The combined amount forward funded in this way is approximately £1.5m, which we believe will be of great support to clubs who face uncertainty and, worse still, a significant loss of revenue as a result of the impact of coronavirus.’
An SFA and SPFL Joint Response Group set up to consider the effects of the coronavirus suspended the season until further notice on Friday. A video conference involving clubs from all four divisions will take place today to listen to concerns and consider further measures to prevent a financial bloodbath across the Scottish game after Hearts asked staff to take a 50-per-cent wage cut and Partick Thistle and Raith Rovers promoted crowd-funding pages established by fans to donate money to ease the financial burden of not playing football.
League Two club Elgin City have also admitted they could go out of business without financial support, while Cowdenbeath say they can’t sell season tickets for next term until the fate of the current campaign becomes clear.
Europe’s governing body, UEFA, have delayed the Euro 2020 finals until 2021 to offer domestic leagues a chance to finish the current campaign before June 30. Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-off against Israel — originally due to be played next week — has also been shunted back.
With Covid-19 expected to peak in the United Kingdom around June, however, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell admitted the play-off is unlikely to go ahead.
Privately, Hampden insiders think the best hope of preventing a number of clubs lurching towards administration is to end the season with the current standings, distribute prize money as soon as possible and advise clubs to claim for business disruption insurance.
Wary of refund claims from BT
Sport and Sky Sports, the publication of a government white paper providing details on the Coronavirus Bill offers the best hope on both counts.
Due to be debated in parliament this week with a view to being implemented ‘from the end of this month’, the legislation seeks to ‘enable the government to restrict or prohibit events and gatherings during the pandemic and, where necessary, close premises’.
The closure of football stadia by government decree would effectively end the season and increase the likelihood of the SFA and SPFL joint response group halting the season, calling the title and relegation issues and distributing prize money to ailing clubs.
The governing bodies have also urged struggling clubs to apply for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme, due to be launched by the British Business Bank next week to grant access to bank lending and overdrafts.
Championship side Partick Thistle, meanwhile, have joined League One leaders Raith Rovers in begging fans for donations to get through the crisis.
Fans of the Maryhill club have a target to raise £20,000 after Thistle warned of a “potentially significant loss of income” due to the suspension of the season.
Currently bottom of the Championship with nine games remaining, they have a ‘strong financial base’ but face ‘uncertainty’ with no income coming in to the club.
Raith Rovers also issued a statement, which read: ‘Every Scottish club at our level has a heavy reliance on gate income as the main source of revenue.
‘Therefore, the cancellation or postponement of home fixtures is a significant issue, particularly as a large amount of costs will still be incurred regardless, such as wages, council tax, etc, over this period.’
Cowdenbeath finance director David Allan identified the next three months as a huge test of endurance for clubs, saying: ‘If the leagues end up as they stand right now, and I don’t think they will be able to continue, then we should receive our final-placing payment from the SPFL as long as sponsorship and TV revenues are received in the normal way.
‘March, April, May and June are financially the worst throughout the year for us. Given the government advice I don’t think it’s likely any football will be played during these months but we still have wages to pay to players up to June 10.’