Britain Football Soccer - Aberdeen v Celtic - Scottish League Cup Final - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland - 27/11/16 Mikael Lustig of Celtic in action Reuters / Russell Cheyne Livepic EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Dave Cormack has warned that no club is immune from the cash crisis that has accompanied that arrival of the Coronavirus.
Celtic’s income dwarves the rest of the Scottish game but the same can be said of their wage bill.
At the end of December Celtic had close to £40m in the bank but after banking around £1.5m from the Europa League tie against Copenhagen there are no major pay days on the horizon.
On the day that football was suspended a new five year kit deal with Adidas was announced but worldwide belts and being tightened, budgets reviewed and tough decisions being taken.
Alongside Hearts and Hibs, Aberdeen can claim to be the third force in Scottish football but despite half a dozen years of relative success, lucrative runs in cup competitions, the Dons are facing up to a new reality.
On the club website Cormack revealed that brutal economic facts:
Three weeks ago we were in a healthy financial position; free of external debt, with £1.5million in the bank. We had expected income of about £1million from four home league games and the Scottish Cup Semi-Final and, potentially, £5million in season ticket sales, seasonal hospitality and new shirt sales coming in through mid-July. Our monthly running costs are about £1.2million and it’s only prudent to assume that, realistically, there will be no football until July perhaps, at the earliest.
During this period, we are therefore facing £5million in outgoings with no expected income. No matches are planned and we have no idea when a new season starts, never mind the current season ending, and it is highly unlikely there will be any player sales in the summer.
This situation is clearly unsustainable. No club, whatever their size, scale or level of investment, can withstand a total lack of income over a period of anything between three to six months. We are doing everything we can to mitigate this over the next few months and protect our hardworking, dedicated and loyal workforce and all those who depend on the Club.
Once we have answers to these questions, the Board will recommend a course of action to ensure the Club’s future. This will include asking investors, including myself, to support the plan. We will be facing some tough decisions and we will need everyone to come together and play their part in efforts to make sure the Club get through this period.
We will be issuing regular updates as the situation becomes clearer and the Club has explored all its options. In the meantime, the Club, along with the AFC Community Trust, remains committed to our #StillStandingFree campaign which is providing valuable, practical support to those in need among our fanbase and the wider community.”
After announcing the postponement of the European Championships last week tonight UEFA revealed that the finals of the Champions League and Europa Cup won’t be played as scheduled.
Aberdeen’s away day at Motherwell, scheduled for Friday March 13 was the first casualty of the football suspension.
