GO WITH THE CASH FLOW
DON’T PANIC ... YET
BY GAvIN BERRY
BRYAN JACKSON helped save Hearts from liquidation six years ago and understands fans’ fears that the club could be plunged into administration again.
Supremo Ann Budge took the drastic measure of asking players and staff to take a 50 per cent wage cut with the club staring at a £1million black hole with the season suspended due to coronavirus.
Insolvency expert Jackson, now a consultant at Johnston Carmichael, isn’t concerned for Hearts’ future.
But he admits the picture has changed in Scottish football less than a week after urging fans not to panic.
In a special Q&A, Jackson explains his reasons why. AR TO NE
Q. At the weekend after football had been suspended indefinitely your message was “don’t panic”. Has that changed with the news coming out of Tynecastle?
BJ: I still wouldn’t be overly panicking, although I might have to eat my words from my interview less than a week ago!
The landscape changed very quickly and with no foreseeable income it’s understandable what Ann Budge has done.
My feeling last week was that if it was going to be for a month then even clubs on a tight budget would be robust enough to catch up. But we don’t know when football will return so it’s now about survival for clubs.
I still feel Scottish football is very robust in general terms.
Q. Administration II is a
fear for some Hearts fans after the news of a 50 per cent wage cut for players and staff. Should they be worried?
BJ: I can understand their fears but I wouldn’t be overly concerned about that happening. I wouldn’t compare it to the previous circumstances where the club had in the region of £30million of debt accumulated over many years. I doubt that’s the position now where the problem is short-term cash flow.
Q. When Budge took over she said the days of reckless spending under Vladimir
Romanov that saw them fall