Hearts owner Ann Budge says she isn’t taking the decision to halve the wages of full-time employees at the club lightly, believing the course of action ‘necessary’ for sustainability.
The club released a statement on Wednesday night explaining that, from April, full-time workers at the club, including players, will have to accept a 50% wage reduction due to no more income for the foreseeable future.
The football season is on hold as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, meaning clubs have lost their income from matchday revenues.
Hearts employees will take a 50% wage cut from April (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
It is looking likely that football will not resume again for some time, and that could have serious repercussions for a lot of clubs across the world, let alone just Scottish teams.
Explaining her decision, Budge said (official website): “This reduction in income is not sustainable without taking immediate action to cut staff costs and overheads.
“As such, I need to act swiftly and take steps now to ensure that we, as a Club, can weather this storm while trying to ensure we are ready to resume operations as and when we move into calmer waters and football restarts.
Owner Budge says the measure is necessary for future sustainability (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
“I want to assure everyone that these decisions have not been taken lightly. If I was not absolutely convinced that this is necessary for the future sustainability of our business, I would not be asking our employees to face these cuts.”
No full-time employee at the club would be forced to dip below £18,135, which is the living wage.
Budge previously revealed that the cost of the suspension of football to Hearts is around £1 million.