Well Will Survive

15 July 2012 10:18
Clubs will have to be even more careful over their finances as they await decisions regarding future TV revenue.

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall is well aware of the potential impact of the changes in revenue from Sky etc following the vote against Rangers joining the SPL. However, he remains confident the club will survive. Motherwell have lost the likes of Steve Jennings, Stephen Craigan and Tim Clancy without bringing anyone in so far. They lost a pre-season friendly against Ayr United 4-0 yesterday which will not have helped preparation for the Champions League qualifiers ahead. McCall said: "I think we have lost 10 players and we have brought five kids up from the under-19s and now with that decision yesterday it's going to prove almost impossible to bring anybody into the club. That's the financial aspect, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but that's the reality." SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster has suggested that up to £17.7million in television revenue could be lost and valued the broadcasting potential of the league without Rangers, for three years at least, at just £3million. McCall said: "It's going to mean a huge deficit. Yesterday's vote has made it even worse. The main thing is the TV, that's the bottom line. There is a lot of, I say scaremongering, but it might be true. It would be good if someone could come out and say 'this is the facts'. Are Sky and ESPN going to walk away if Rangers are in Division Three? If that's the case, then our revenue gets cut hugely as does every SPL club and a lot of clubs are not going to be able to function as they are doing at the moment. A lot of people talk about if two or three clubs do go into administration in the next couple of months then that's because they have been living outwith their means. But that's not the case. At Motherwell we have no debt. A lot of clubs who are in debt have been trying to reduce it and paying for their errors five or 10 years ago. We're not living outwith our means, we have contractual income to put out and money we expect to come in. Obviously there is going to be a shortfall and that's where the problem lies."

Source: FOOTYMAD