Calls for clarity as Aberdeen brace for financial hit

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has called for clarity from the football authorities as to when the current season will be brought to a conclusion.

The Pittodrie club is bracing itself for a significant financial hit from the shutdown of football after the coronavirus outbreak.

With the Dons in a battle for third place in the Premiership and still in the Scottish Cup, Cormack believes they could miss out on up to £6m of revenue in the coming months if another ball isn’t kicked.

Hearts have asked their players and staff to take a 50% pay cut and while the Dons chairman insisted he’d be hard-pushed to enforce a similar measure further down the line he was unable to rule it out.

‘With no income for three to six months I think all the teams in Scotland are going to struggle.’
Dave Cormack

He said: “First of all, everybody at this club is valuable to us and really important. In an ideal world, the last thing we want to do is want to go down this route but we don’t know what it is right now.

“We don’t know, it would be good to get some clarity from UEFA and the authorities as to where we go from here.

“Everybody is in a difficult position, in an ideal world, with sporting integrity, we play all the games. That’s what everybody wants. But the reality is as the weeks go on that becomes really difficult.

“I think it’s important for us to put a stake in the ground as to when the next season starts. Is it the first weekend in August like normal or do we say it’s the first week of September?

“These things need to be answered in the next week, the sooner the better. The authorities are in a difficult position but hopefully they can come forward and give some clarity as to where we are.”

Aberdeen were dealt another blow last week when the club revealed that their insurance provider is changing policy and they will no longer have cover against the impact of coronavirus on their business.

Cormack says despite the Dons being financially secure, tough times may lie ahead for his club and the rest of the Scottish game if football doesn’t return sooner rather than later.

He said: “We’re a well-run club, I believe, with a great balance sheet and no debt. But with no income for three to six months I think all teams in Scotland are going to struggle.

“There are lots of moving parts, whether it be insurance or VAT payments, potential economic support from the government and we still don’t have answers for everything.

“We’ll pull this together in the next few days and take a view as to what we need to do from a cash-flow perspective for the club, we don’t have that answer right now. Right now, we just need to take a deep breath.”