Aberdeen ask players and management to take pay cut

Premiership club Aberdeen are asking their playing and management staff to take temporary pay cuts as they begin to feel the financial strain of months without football.

Chairman Dave Cormack confirmed the club are in discussions with the first-team squad as they need to make cuts due to a “growing funding gap”.

Cormack said the board would “do what it can to safeguard jobs and protect those on lower incomes” during “this challenging period”.

He said: “Our initial assumptions were that we’d get back to playing football in front of crowds in September.

“The reality is that we now face playing games behind closed doors and, perhaps, with limited crowds until at least January.

“We said right at the start of this that no club, not even one as financially robust as Aberdeen, could withstand a collapse of income that extended beyond September.

“Back playing in front of fans, hopefully in January 2021, will mean a ten-month period with limited income. The financial situation we therefore face is stark.

“I am confident that the board, management, staff and players will continue to pull together to do what’s best for the club.

“Our goal remains to do everything we can to look after our people and continue to invest in the success of our club on the field.”