Hearts captain Steven Naismith has come to the defence of the club’s owner Ann Budge – as it’ll only be Celtic who are spared from financial hardship.
Budge slashed the Jambos wage bill by 50% last week, with football clubs across the world facing uncertain futures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Games cannot currently be played, meaning clubs cannot bank on matchday revenues which is going to make life very difficult for many.
Budge has had to make a tough business decision (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
Budge became convinced her decision was unavoidable to sustain Hearts, and Naismith – who this week agreed to halve his wages – came to her defence as many teams outside of Celtic face hardship.
He said (Daily Record): “Ann isn’t looking for sympathy but it’s been misconstrued why she’s just doing this.
“Every club in Scotland outwith maybe Celtic will come into hard times.
“It’s inevitable it’ll happen. Ann is just trying to be proactive with that.
“People are saying she’s doing this or the club goes under – she’s not saying that at all.
Steven Naismith has defended the owner and says Celtic may be the only ones to go unaffected. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“She’s trying, as an intelligent businesswoman, to minimise the risk of people losing their livelihoods.”
It’s a horrible position to be in for football club and business owners right now, and it seems many won’t be able to pass through this period without making extremely tough decisions.
Budge recently said that the cost of the football suspension is around £1 million which is obviously a big hit, so it is perhaps the only way for the club to be able to sustain.
It could well be that they aren’t the last club to cut wages during these unprecedented times.