Pars' financial balancing act
Ally McRoberts • Published 9 Mar 2012 09:10
1 Comment
THE PARS will receive the full £84,000 owed to them by Rangers and are still pressing the SFA for compensation from the fogged-off Kilmarnock game.
Athletic have now paid the players' February wages in full after coming to an agreement with the administrators at the stricken Glasgow club.
The only outstanding sums are for players' bonuses which should be paid by next week.
A statement said that "less than 50 per cent" of the ticket money owed by Rangers was paid on Monday with the remaining balance due on 13th April.
Chairman John Yorkston confirmed, "We've got some of the money and we're going to get it all over a period of time so that's a better position than we were in last week.
"I'd like to thank the SPL for their efforts in assisting us.
"Players are up to date with their wages and the vast majority were quite good about it once we'd explained the situation.
"When you're talking to 20-30 people you won't get uniformity, a couple were quite upset with the lack of notice, but generally speaking everyone was OK."
The Pars announced last Thursday that it had been necessary to part-pay the club's February salaries to all staff, including management and players due to the delay in receiving the Rangers ticket money.
Yorkston said they were hoping for more good news after stating that the club was still pursuing the SFA for compensation over the late postponement of the Kilmarnock match on 10th December.
He said, "We received a letter from Stewart Regan on Friday saying the SFA weren't liable but if we wanted a meeting then to get in touch, which is what we will do.
"We had expected that to be the case and will take this further."
Money has talked this season with the Pars closing the north stand to try to save £20,000 and cut costs by £100,000 by the end of the season amid a backdrop of lower than expected attendances.
However, the chairman said the difficulty in paying wages last week was a temporary problem, misleading reports had got their figures all wrong and that the club was not in any trouble.
The club's accounts for the year ending May 2011 show an operating loss of more than £1million in 2010 was reduced to £374,000.
Yorkston said, "If you take the bonuses for winning promotion (£185,000) out, the operating loss was actually £189,000, but it was quoted in some quarters as being over £430,000 which is not correct.
"I can only surmise they've got their sums wrong.
"The debt is down from over £10 million to over £8 million, and that is owed to directors, while we have a thriving commercial side and people wanting to pay for their boxes or season tickets now, so there are a lot of people trying to help us out."
He continued, "In this day and age we think the accounts are pretty good but the trouble is so many things can swing it.
"Matters like the Kilmarnock postponement cost us £50,000, there was the £84,000 issue with Rangers while losing the cup tie to Inverness meant we missed out on a TV game against Celtic which would have brought in over £100,000.
"When you look at the losses for last year, it's clear that things like cancellations or an extra cup tie can make the difference between breaking even and making a loss."
Yorkston said that, contrary to reports, he did not want Rangers to be demoted to the third division if and when they emerge from administration.
And he added that a suggestion by the Glasgow side's supporters to come to the Dunfermline v St Mirren match this month to compensate the Pars for the financial trouble Rangers caused could still go ahead.
"That had been mentioned before we came to an agreement with the administrators so I made a point of calling the Rangers Trust, as I didn't want them to be misled or to think we weren't getting the money.
"Irrespective of that, they felt it may still go ahead, which is a nice gesture and I genuinely hope that Rangers will find a way to come out of this."
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
-
jollymolly
93 posts
Mar 14, 11:13
Report commentYou should be do what Rangers are doing!!
Get a grip before it happens to us!
A 75-50 per cent wage reduction would help for a start !
Bonuses for what they have achieved this season they deserve nothing!!
They don't deserve what they are getting at present they are not winning at home.
get rid of half the defence and our useless Goalie... as they are absolutely useless and we are losing supporters because of this.
Recommend?
Yes 4
No 0
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
