Part-time clubs tell SPFL to cough up

STENHOUSEMUIR chairman Iain McMenemy last night urged the SPFL to ride to the rescue of stricken lower-league clubs by handing them a bigger slice of the cash pie. An angry McMenemy laid the plight of part-time clubs on the line to the league hierarchy yesterday during a heated conference call to discuss the coronavirus shutdown. With UEFA seeking a pan-European solution to outstanding issues around the completion of the season, no decisions were made on title matters, relegation or resuming the current campaign. Unimpressed by SFA and SPFL advance payments to cash-strapped clubs totalling £4.5million, however, McMenemy complained that Stenhousemuir have received under £10,000 in total — while Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell have been handed £395,000 plus VAT. ‘I said to the SPFL that we are in the most extraordinary times,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘We cannot get through this with ordinary actions. ‘They seem to be taking a business-as-usual approach when it really is anything but business as usual. ‘We have talked about £4.5m being invested in clubs by the SFA and the

the SPFL since the crisis began. The SFA have administered £1.5m and the SPFL have made advance payments in the region of £3m. ‘But for the people I sat with in the League Two conference call, that amounts to less than £10,000 per club in total. It feels like things are being rubbed in our face a bit. ‘I’m not saying that the bigger clubs don’t have their own financial issues with far bigger wage bills — of course they do. ‘But one of those big payments of £395,000 which went to the three top Premiership clubs would be enough to save half — if not two-thirds — of the clubs in our league.’ Under the SPFL distribution model, Premiership champions Celtic took 13.4 per cent of a £25m prize pot in 2019. In contrast, the League Two champions earn just 0.27 per cent — or £67,000 based on last year’s totals. While Celtic agreed to sacrifice around £1m a year to pass more revenue down to Championship clubs in 2013, McMenemy believes a modest sacrifice by the country’s top clubs now could make a significant difference. ‘If the Premiership clubs were willing to sacrifice even 10 per cent from their payments and distribute that money down the food chain, that could make all the difference when it comes to clubs in danger of going out of business in the next two or three months. ‘The Premiership clubs are used to taking 83 per cent of the distribution revenue and we accept that. ‘All we are saying is that these are exceptional times and if they would just take 73 per cent instead — and let an extra 10 per cent float its way down — it could rescue clubs. ‘When there is such an inequality of distribution in the league, even a small lean towards us would make a huge difference.’