Thursday 19 March 2020 12:56, UK
Hearts' request for players and staff to take a 50 per cent wage cut could lead to a domino effect within Scottish football, according to the club's former defender Alan McLaren.
The club's owner Ann Budge asked everyone at the Scottish Premiership's bottom team to get behind the idea in order to safeguard the club's future.
It comes after she revealed on Monday that Hearts are set to miss out on £1m of income next month following the suspension of Scottish football last week due to coronavirus outbreak.
McLaren fears a number of other Scottish Premiership sides could announce similar measures as they formulate plans to deal with loss of income in the coming months.
"UEFA have said they want the games played by June, but Budge is of the opinion that it will run until August or September. She's taken a hard stance but it's probably best for the club," he told Sky Sports News.
"You're sitting bottom of the league with eight games to go so [Hearts] will definitely be [planning for possible relegation].
"It's not a decision she has taken lightly and unfortunately it could be a domino effect, a lot of other clubs could go down this route too."
McLaren also believes it would not be in the interest of players, especially those running towards the end of their contracts, to voluntarily terminate their deals rather than take the requested pay cut.
He continued: "Players will be struggling. There are players who will be out of contract in the next few months. They may have the next few months to set themselves up before August or September when they can actually gain employment elsewhere.
"Although it's just an 'ask' and not a definite so there is no point taking a termination of contract. No one [wants to be] an out of contract player when there is not football.
"It's tough but everyone has to look at their own situation and see if they want to take this massive cut."
Oxford United boss Karl Robinson says the problems facing Hearts in the Scottish Premiership will be a common story for numerous clubs in the lower leagues of the English football pyramid.
"I think it's worry for everybody, it's not just football. It's right across the board. Some clubs will have better financial support across this difficult time," he said.
"If you look at the cup runs, [Oxford United] have had some amazing cup runs and sold some players as well, but there will be some clubs who don't have that.
"Certain clubs use their stadiums for hotel, conference centres and revenue purposes. They won't be able to pull down money from there to pay players either.
"The EFL have been brilliant, whatever decision they make they are going to come in for criticism, but we have to take a step back and reduce that criticism.
"It's difficult when you are making a decision for the masses."
Former Hearts managing director David Southern expects more clubs to follow their lead in slashing operating costs.
And he believes decisions made now will be critical in efforts to mitigate the worst of the crisis and ensure that all 42 clubs across the SPFL have a future.
"Hearts is simply the first out of the blocks, if you like," Southern said when referencing the implications of the current shutdown.
"There will be more and I would almost be concerned if clubs weren't announcing plans such as (what) Ann Budge and the board of directors at Hearts have done.
"It's all about resilience but football clubs are far from immune to our current situation, in fact they are very exposed to it.
"What happens now in boardrooms across the country will dictate whether these clubs exist in not just two or three months' time, but two or three years' time. Most clubs should survive.
"The majority of football clubs' wages actually account for the vast amount of cost. The 12 Premiership clubs in Scotland, between 56 and 97 per cent of their overall cost base is wages.
"Hearts is very well managed in terms of its actual salary. Hearts sits at 56 per cent salary to turnover ratio. The industry standard globally is 65 per cent.
"The focus also has to be not just on cutting staff costs, but it must be on cutting every single operating cost that is non-essential and every single piece of capital investment that is non-essential."
Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray says football fans should be concerned about the future of the sector amid the continued uncertainty over when the sport could resume.
While acknowledging that football and sport are far from alone in facing uncertainty, the Labour MP, who is also a former Hearts board member, says the financial implications for the game - particularly in Scotland - could be severe.
"I don't think it's unique to Hearts fans, I think all football fans should be worried," Murray said.
"The sector could be in real trouble, the football season was obviously abruptly ended, there is no income coming in for any football clubs at the moment.
"Scottish football does not have a lot of money flying around or a lot of reserves that can be called upon and therefore the financial implications of not playing football or not having income is pretty clear for all to see.
"This is a pre-emptive move from Ann Budge to try and find a way of making sure the club can stay financially stable until incomes can start flowing in.
"The big difficulty of course is the uncertainty of when that would actually happen, nobody knows at the moment and that means that financial planning becomes hugely difficult."
