£100k council pay-out to Old Firm sparks row
A SIX-FIGURE public cash award to Celtic and Rangers has come under fire amid council funding cuts to Glasgow’s voluntary sector of £12million.
City council bosses handed the clubs a combined £100,000 for outreach work with school children weeks after the multi-million reduction in its funding for community groups.
The move sparked calls by opposition leaders for the clubs to self-fund their Old Firm Alliance. A move by the council’s SNP group to redirect the money to financial and legal advice centres in areas of multiple deprivation was overruled by the Labour administration, which has said it has a stake in the work the Old Firm carries out.
Both clubs have received millions from Glasgow City Council in the last decade but this has been cut drastically in recent years due to a combination of both the squeeze on the public purse and grant compliance concerns. The grants have been reduced in the past year from an annual £39,200 each to £25,000, with council sources suggesting this could come down further after 2018. Launched in 2005, the Old Firm Alliance works mostly with youngsters of primary school age in Glasgow. Last year the Scottish Government’s expert group on sectarianism recommended that clubs need to step up to the plate and fund grassroots work themselves.
SNP group leader Susan Aitken said it had recommended the grants go to other recipients because the clubs were “considerably better placed than others to fund their own grassroots activities”. She added: “The Celtic and Rangers charitable foundations between them had an income of over £2 million last year. Do they really need to receive £50,000 a year from public funds?”
Nil by Mouth campaign director Dave Scott said: “Both clubs clearly have a role in tackling this problem but I’m not sure it should be at taxpayers expense.”
A council spokesman insisted money was made to charitable foundations to “support valuable projects they deliver for younger people” rather than the clubs themselves. He added: “Due to the pressure on our budgets, these grants have been cut substantially, while the vast majority of awards to community groups have been protected this year.”
A Rangers spokeswoman said: “Rangers is uniquely placed to help deliver powerful benefits for the people of Glasgow and is proud of its achievements in delivering the Old Firm Alliance project. It is worth noting that the £25,000 budget for the next two years represents a 36 per cent cut to the project.”
Celtic declined to comment.