Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters fears closed doors games this year will mean his club having no budget for manager Gavin Price next year
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PLAYING League Two and cup matches behind closed doors won’t give Elgin City immediate financial concerns – but it will impact on the following season.
That was the warning from club chairman Graham Tatters in response to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that crowds cannot attend Scottish football matches for at least the next three weeks.
Read more: Elgin City fans could be watching team's games on pay-per-view
With City forced to take their squad off the furlough system when they returned to contact training this month, they have a wage bill and expenses to contend with once again, but no revenue coming in.
It’s a situation which Tatters said the club can survive through this year, but is certain to have a knock-on effect for next season without paying punters for a sustained period.
“Everything is behind closed doors at the moment and there’s no chances of crowds,” he said.
“I don’t think we will see crowds before Christmas and that’s the best estimate.
“We can afford it, but the problem is how much you are leaking towards next season. You have a budget set out, but if you don’t have any revenue then the money will be gone for next season. That’s the problem.
“We all want to play, but you have to question that if we keep pumping out money this season and pay players with no revenue coming in, we can afford to do that for a period of time, but what happens next season? I don’t know how we deal with that.
“There’s a budget for the manager and he knows exactly what he has to spend. Next season we wouldn’t be able to have a budget for him because there’s nothing coming in.”
The financial burden of the Covid-19 crisis could force some SPFL clubs to field young players and reduce their overheads.
Elgin had already resigned a large number of last season’s squad before the pandemic spread, and Tatters said the threat of relegation back to the Highland League means his club could never treat any campaign lightly.
“We can’t afford not to have a good squad,” he said.
“We couldn’t just put in a ghost squad because there’s still the pyramid system.
“We saw on Saturday how good a side Brora are and they will be strong for getting into that pyramid system.”
One financial strain taken off Elgin is the cost of Covid-19 testing, which all lower league clubs must do when they face Premiership clubs in the Betfred Cup following an SPFL announcement last week.
Elgin are due to host Ross County in the group stages in November, and the Dingwall club’s chairman Roy MacGregor has already said he will pay for City’s testing, as well as neighbours ICT and Brora.
“It’s a fantastic gesture,” said Tatters.
“He has never forgotten where he came from. It’s very impressive what he is doing.”
