Scottish Premier League outfit Heart of Midlothian has asked all players and non-playing staff, to take a 50 perfect pay-cut to ensure that the club is operational amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With all football postponed for coming weeks and month, the club has implored his employees to half their wages in order to aid their survival which is now at risk.
The rapid spread of the COVID-19 across Europe has forced all sporting activities on the continent to be suspended to prevent further complications. As a result, lesser clubs have started taking a hit as revenue generated from matches have now been cut.
In a statement released by the club on Wednesday, chairwoman of Hearts stated that the development has taken a toll on the club's wages structure and, as a result, employees are advised to take a 50 percent pay-cut in order to safeguard the club's future. This comes after her revelation on Monday highlighting the fact that the four-time Scottish champions are set to miss out on £1 million in revenue next month.
"We are living through unprecedented and challenging times at the moment," Budge said in the club statement.
"As you will appreciate, my priority is the health and well-being of our people.
"In addition to this, as chairman and CEO of the club, I must also do everything in my power to ensure that we keep our club safe and financially sound.
"The Scottish FA has now suspended football for the foreseeable future and, whilst there is no specified end date to this, it is most likely that the game will not resume until July/early August at the earliest.
"In addition, the latest Government measures regarding social distancing and restrictions on large gatherings mean that the impacts of this will be felt across our entire business.
"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.
"I cannot achieve this without the full cooperation and support of all of our key stakeholders, namely staff, coaches, players and supporters," Budge added.
"I cannot stress strongly enough that we need everyone to get behind the club to help us through this.
"In order to try to prevent a staff redundancy programme and to protect as many jobs as possible, I am proposing to implement a club-wide salary reduction programme.
"We have asked all full-time employees, managers, coaches, players and player backroom staff, with effect from the beginning of April, to accept a 50 per cent cut in their monthly salary."
The decision taken by the Hearts hierarchy will cause a number of departments to close temporarily. Others who may not be willing to accept the reduction will see their contracts terminated.
