Pars’ chief’s Covid fears for future of clubs
Dunfermline chairman Ross Mcarthur is clinging to the hope that a coronavirus vaccine can help save Scottish football – but he fears it may come too late for many endangered clubs this season.
The East End Park outfit announced a small profit for the 12 months to May this year, despite the financial fallout of the global health emergency.
The Pars have since agreed a six-figure sum for the sale of Kevin Nisbet to Hibernian and attracted “significant investment” from a German consortium who have the option of completing a takeover by May 2022.
However, despite that income, the Fifers – like clubs up and down the country – face a huge challenge in making ends meet whilst supporters can’t attend matches.
Mcarthur is a board member on the SPFL, whose chief executive, Neil Doncaster, ramped up the pressure on the Scottish Government this week when he claimed a “failure to get fans back in the very near future will sound the death knell for some of our best-loved clubs”.
But the Dunfermline chief has confessed he is already preparing for the worst amidst fears the appeals will fall on deaf ears.
He said: “We’re obviously now looking at different assumptions than we were at the start of the season, because it’s not looking good in terms of getting crowds back.
“We either need to get crowds back or some form of support – because it is going to be very challenging for football clubs, not just without crowds but hospitality, private parties and so on.
“At the moment all we’re doing is preparing ourselves for an event – a home game – every two weeks at the same time as carrying a huge overhead.
“The one positive that’s come out in the last few weeks is that there are maybe two or three options in terms of vaccines.
“But how that translates to actually getting mass events back remains to be seen.
“You’d be silly not to have at the back of your mind the possibility that this season will pass by without any crowds.
“You’re hopeful – but it’s maybe hope more than expectation. You’d be foolish not to think that it might come too late for this season. Who knows?
“So we’ve re-based our budget on pretty much worst-case scenario, and it’s definitely going to be a challenge.”