Scottish football club seeking players, staff wage cut

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Scottish football club Hearts asked players, coaches and staff Thursday to accept a 50% wage cut because of the financial effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

"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," owner Ann Budge said in a statement. "We have asked all full-time employees, managers, coaches, players and player back-room staff, with effect from the beginning of April, to accept a 50% cut in their monthly salary.

"This has two main consequences for the Club: (i) There will be no income from matches and all associated business streams whilst football is suspended; (ii) There is unlikely to be any income from our non-matchday business streams,” she added.

This move be an example for other sports clubs that have been financially impacted by coronavirus outbreak.

The Scottish Football Federation suspended matches with no specified end date.

Since first being detected in Wuhan, China in December, the virus known as COVID-19 has claimed 8,939 lives globally, with most deaths in China, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 220,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed in at least 158 countries and territories, with Europe the new epicenter of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.