Clubs across Scotland are suffering as the global health emergency ramps up.
This we know from the headlines and the stories, and the wailing. I am sympathetic to most of them, those which are just swept up in something much bigger than they are, those who are scrambling and don’t have a clue how to get out of their mounting trouble.
Others, I am not so sad for. One of them is Sevco. More on them later.
But to read our press you’d think that our league was the only one suffering, the only one sweating.
Here’s the news though; they are all sweating.
They are all suffering.
You might think that teams sitting on mammoth Sky earnings are going to be alright, but many of them are running massive debts and TV money is all that’s keeping the lights on.
What’s TV money worth though when there are no games on TV?
In my earlier piece I wrote about how Celtic could be back playing again if some basic safety measures were followed; this is equally true about England and other leagues. If football is off for the time being though a lot of the clubs down there are going to leaking money – big money – at a rapid rate.
The whole global transfer market is about to get a major shake-up.
That might help us, and it might hinder us, depending on what our plans are.
If we’re looking to sell players, well the truth is they are worth less than they were before this crisis began.
There is less money out there, it’s as simple as that. But that is true for all players, across the board. It means that the kind of players we want to sign might be closer to our financial reach than they used to be. That could work for us.
Cash will be tight at most clubs, but as I wrote yesterday there is no reason that our club should be feeling the pinch.
We’re in good shape to survive this thing, and we’ll probably not be too badly dented, unless it lasts for a long time.
It’s also worth considering the number of clubs who might have to pay off high earners; the Bosman market is going to look very attractive, and frankly I think we’ve let a lot of good footballers slip away from us over the years by not exploiting it.
Our strategy doesn’t have to undergo a radical shift, but there are opportunities here if we’re smart.
We should have target lists already, and we should be looking for clubs in distress whose players feature on that list.
We need to be both ruthless and smart.
As Scottish football goes through the current crisis it is important to keep up with developments and the key issues. We are determined to do so, and to keep you informed as well. Please subscribe to the blog.