SLASH OR DIE

If you’re on £30k a week you’ll need to accept £3K .. if you’re on £2k a week you might have to take £200 – that’s the reality facing Scotland’s footballers

- CHRIS SUTTON

FOOTBALLERS across Scotland are about to face a horrendous dilemma.

Lufthansa pilots have just announced they are taking a 45 per cent pay cut for two years just to try to save their employer and have a job to go back to when this is all over.

These are the grim facts for workers post coronavirus.

And this is the type of sacrifice Scotland’s players and their bosses may need to make in the medium term.

If clubs cannot open the doors to fans for the next few months, there is simply no cash for wages and the choices are going to be brutal and stark.

Take the hit and survive. Or see your club possibly go under.

I’ve seen suggestions from Ross County chairman Roy MacGrgeor that 50 or 60 per cent of players are going to be placed into unemployment due to this crisis.

The remainder are going to have to accept mass cuts as well.

And, make no mistake, this shouldn’t be just about players. Chief executives, managers, directors and general staff need to face a new reality too.

The furlough scheme is due to end in June and when it does the gaping gap between incoming cash and outgoings is going to be too big to bridge for every club in the country.

It’s admirable task forces and sub-groups are being set up by the SPFL is an attempt to find solutions and ways to keep the game afloat and get it going when the lockdown is eased.