Despite all logic pointing towards an upcoming administration Ally McCoist is counting down the days till he can get the Sevco cheque book out.
Old-timers Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller have joined the club on short term contracts with hopes high that Leeds United reject Marius Zaliukas will soon be added to the squad.
At the club’s first AGM in December 2013, chief executive Graham Wallace, who used to work for Manchester City, warned that the club’s outgoings were way in excess of income but there has been no sign of austerity measures from the League One champions.
Dean Shiels, Jon Daly, Lee McCulloch, Nicky Law and David Templeton remain at the club on lucrative long term contracts with McCoist hopeful of adding Madjid Bougherra and Daniel Cousin to the wage bill.
Self financing and living within their means seems an alien concept despite the obvious example of Celtic on their doorstep and the famous models of how Ajax and Porto have operated for a number of years.
Explaining his recent transfer activity McCoist said: “Finances are dictating that the job is to get out of the division until the time we can again spend money and bring players in.”
Where that money comes from seems to be an argument for another day with the club currently losing £1m a month.
With season ticket sales down by close to 50% and emergency loans taken out to complete last season it seems that £800,000-a-year McCoist has yet to grasp the realities of the club’s financial problems.
As well as taking out two emergency loans last season, which remain unpaid, Sevco were denied credit facilities forcing fans to pay for season tickets by cash or cheque.
The rumoured take-over by South African based tyre-kicker Dave King has failed to materialise with hopes of survival appearing to be based on raising £8m from a fresh share issue.
With former financial chief Brian Stockbridge picking up over 700,000 shares at one pence each it’s unlikely that there will be much of an appetite from investors in shares priced in the 20-30p bracket for a football club living way beyond their means.
