Raith Rovers place squad on furlough as coronavirus shutdown hits finances

The Kirkcaldy club will use the government’s job retention scheme to put employees on leave – all players and management and all but one office and ground staff – until the crisis is over.

The scheme will allow Rovers to claim back 80 per cent of wages up to a maximum of £2500 per month for each employee.

Bill Clark, club chairman, said all players and staff have accepted the decision, which came into effect this week. 

“These are difficult decisions but it gives us a bit of a safeguard,” he told the Press.

“The question then is can we pay the extra 20 per cent to keep them on full wages and, at the moment, it’s very difficult to see how we can do that if this goes on for several months.

“It’ll be a struggle and that’s really why we need to continue to get money in from all sorts of sources that we can.”

The phenomenal success of the crowdfunder set up by supporters director Andy Mill is closing in on the £50,000 mark as fans rally behind the club.

But Mr Clark (pictured below) warned more funds will be needed in the coming months to see the club through the crisis.

He added: “It’s been a fantastic response and without that money the club would be in real difficulties, so we really appreciate it.

“The difficult thing is going to be trying to sustain money coming from the supporters as the weeks and months go on, but that’s also going to be necessary for us to survive.

“It’s not just a one-off situation and then everything is alright. We’re still going to have financial problems going unto May, June and July, so I would continue to encourage fans to give what they can.

“But as I’ve said before, their main priority is their own families and if they are losing jobs and things like that we can’t expect them to contribute to us.

“We’re doing everything that we can to try and scrape up as much money as we can just to keep the club going, but it’s a struggle.” 

After describing last week’s SPFL payment of £2700+VAT as a “drop in the ocean”, Mr Clark reiterated his call for this season’s prize money to be distributed to clubs as soon as possible, as well as money from the postponed Challenge Cup final.

“I understand why the SPFL can’t make a decision right away, but maybe if UEFA decide to devolve it to the individual associations, they might be able to do something, I hope within the next 7-10 days,” he added.

“At least then we would be able to make contingency plans because we’d have a clearer idea of what’s happening.

“For us the big question is will we be in the Championship or League One, because that makes a big difference in terms of contracts, and also our projections for income once the leagues start up again.

“We just can’t do any of that at the moment.”

Scottish Rugby this week made a decision to declare their season null and void but with his team top of League One and vying for promotion, Mr Clark would strongly oppose any such decision within Scottish football.

“That’s the last thing we want, and the indications we’ve got from the SPFL is that they won’t do that,” he said.

“They’ll look to find some different kind of solution, but what that might be, I’ve no idea at the moment.

“I think they will have to make a decision within the next seven to 10 days because this needs to be cleared up.

“We’re getting closer and closer to the point where we’ll need to be either releasing players at the end of their contracts, or discussing new contracts with them. That’s really quite pressing.”