I HOPE WE’LL GET BACK IN BLACK AGAIN
BY GARY RALSTON A LEADING football finance expert placed gold stars next to every Scottish club last season for their performance off the pitch.
Now Ken Pattullo is hoping government measures aimed at saving the SPFL prove to be more than a sticking plaster on gaping economic wounds.
Pattullo, of insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor, is the author of the annual Football Distress Report which takes the financial temperature of every club in the country.
In May last year, for the first time since the report began in 2012, none of the 42 clubs in the country were showing any signs of serious financial anxiety.
Premiership crowds were up one per cent to 16,000 on average, Championship gates were up seven per cent to just over 3000 and clubs were being well run and financially robust.
Fast forward 11 months and Scottish football, in line with the rest of society, is on lockdown and there’s no clarity on when the SPFL will resume and even now many teams will make up their divisions.
Pattullo said: “I don’t want to sound like a merchant of doom but I’d be very surprised if Scottish football came out of this without any casualties.
“That said I don’t believe we’ll reach the stage where Scottish football in its entirety goes to the wall.
“It will take a few seasons to recover fully but it wasn’t just by good luck we were able to produce such a positive report only last year. Good management across the board at all clubs got us to that position and hopefully it will be good management that gets us out of it again.
“But we need clarity on the future as soon as possible, preferably by the end of June. The debates will continue about this season and whether clubs such as Celtic and Dundee
United should be declared champions or Hearts relegated.
“I’m sure the league will come up with some kind of compromise plan. Restructuring of the league would not surprise me.
“Commercially the SPFL can’t afford for Hearts and Dundee United not to be in the same division.”
The move to place staff across the game, including players and administrators, on a government scheme guarantees 80 per cent of salaries up to £2500 a month.
Clubs such as Celtic have vowed to pay the 20 per cent extra to ensure employees don’t lose out but even with more than £30million in the bank, Pattullo isn’t surprise they bit the bullet.
He added: “Celtic and the other clubs have done the right thing. It’s sensible from a business point of view and I would be surprised if every club in the country does not avail itself of the opportunity.
“The alternative is to lay off staff and that’s less palatable than taking advantage of the HMRC scheme.
“This will allow clubs the time to take stock and find a little breathing space at a crucial time because the biggest outgoing at most clubs relates to staff salaries, mostly players.
“Admittedly it’s much more difficult to furlough players on £10,000 a week when the maximum on offer is £2500 a month”