Manson: Shutdown will have big impact
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Turriff United chairman George Manson says that the decision made by the Scottish FA to suspend football in the country indefinitely due to coronavirus will have a massive financial impact on the club.
Last Friday the Joint Response Group confirmed the decision of the Scottish FA board to suspend all domestic professional and grassroots football under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA until further notice.
But he understands the reasoning behind the shutdown.
He told the Advertiser: “There will be no income, that is the obvious effect and expenditure will be cut as we will not be having floodlights on.
“But some expenses you can’t cut.
“Players aren’t training this week and we still have a commitment to pay their wages.
“The wages are performance related so if they are not playing it doesn’t happen like win bonuses.
“We still have a commitment to pay the base wage and try to negotiate that.
“We are not full time so they are not relying on the wages.
“Some people may be relying on it, maybe guys not in fancy jobs.
“The impact is that we only had four or five games left with full hospitality for all the home games which we may miss out unless we get to play them.
“The season break will be dramatically shorter than normal if we get back to playing.”
When asked about contracts expiring at the end of June, he said: “We have a few players on loan so they will not go as far as that.”
He added: “It is absolutely down to health and safety.
“There wasn’t any real choice.
“The SFA made the decision for Scottish football.
“Late Thursday night they [SFA] said they weren’t going to do it and Friday morning it all happened.
“I have seen critics speaking about how they have applied to everyone.
“However, I have seen in England they haven’t done that and now they have, it means we got it right in the first place.”
Highland League Office Bearers are meeting this week while the league management meeting takes place next week.
Meanwhile Turriff United Youth Football Club are posting football homework drills on their Facebook page to encourage their youngsters to keep active and practice.
A spokesperson said: “We do, however, encourage personal development and by that we mean keep practising in the back garden or out at the local park.
“Thanks for all the support.”
