League pays out £3.5m early to clubs

The Scottish Professional Football League has brought forward payments totalling around £3.5 million to its 42 members clubs in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The initial tranche of funds from the SPFL’S annual prize money pot was due to be distributed in April but has been advanced as clubs in all four divisions address the financial implications of the indefinite suspension of all fixtures.

The top three clubs in the Premiership table at the time of the initial suspension on 13 March – Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell – each receive £474,000, including VAT.

The remaining nine Premiership clubs all get £189,000, including VAT, but the sliding scale then sees the amounts diminish dramatically down the divisions.

Including VAT, Championship clubs receive £31,800 each, League 1 clubs £3,240 each and League 2 clubs just £1,620.

The balance of SPFL prize money payments is due at the end of the campaign. Last season, it totalled £25 million with champions Celtic receiving £3.35 million, all the way down to Berwick Rangers collecting £45,000 as the bottom placed club in League 2.

But how and when the

final payments will be distributed this season remains in doubt as the SPFL wait to see if the season can somehow be completed by Uefa’s currently improbable deadline of 30 June. Last week, the Scottish Football Association advanced £1.5 million of funding among member clubs from its annual Club Licensing and Club Academy Scotland award payments.