Clydebank manager Gordon Moffat has revealed that he, his staff and players have agreed not to take any further wage from the club due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Football across the country, and much of the world, has been brought to a halt for two weeks and clubs have been hit hard with no income coming in – including the Bankies being forced to cancel their Sporting Dinner on March 14, which is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
However, after discussions with Clydebank chairwoman Grace McGibbon, Moffat told Post Sport that he feels it’s the right thing to do and believes the club is in a good place.
He said: “We came to an agreement with the club for the month of March and then we’ve said we won’t be taking anything from the club from the start of April going forward. Myself, the management and the players have all agreed that.
“It just seemed like the right thing to do and make sure that the club is in a good position when we come back.
“The sporting dinner was during that week where everything was really starting to kick off and in hindsight it’s been the right decision to cancel it.
“In terms of the club’s financial position, it’s no secret that we haven’t got the biggest budget in the world, but we do that to make sure we’re sustainable and live within our means and that’s coming to fruition now.
“We are relatively stable, we obviously couldn’t sustain things for months and months, but in the short-medium term the club is in good hands and Grace is overseeing it and we’ve got confidence the club will be absolutely fine.”
The club has also urged supporters to check in with each other, as with no football a lot of fans will be missing out on social interaction that they perhaps just get once a week to watch Clydebank.
Moffat added that he is in regular touch with his players and trusts them to keep themselves fit during this unexpected shutdown.
He said: “We’ve got our group chat and we’re checking in with them there and making sure we’re communicating what the club are saying.
“They’re a good group of boys so they generally do their own stuff anyway and try and keep themselves moving.
“I’ve been saying to the boys on our chat to make sure that they are speaking to each other and they’ve got their own player chat which I imagine is a lot busier.
“It’s important that you keep in with each other and Grace has been checking in with a lot of the regular fans which is good.”
The Bankies boss also confirmed that the club’s application to join the new West of Scotland League at Tier 6 has been submitted.
He said: “Ours is in and we’re ready to go. Our stance has been no secret and we’re in and ready to go whenever that may be. It’s something to look forward to.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here