Scottish Football League clubs have been told their end-of-season payment will be nearly a third less than they have budgeted for, Raith Rovers vice-chairman Turnbull Hutton has revealed.
The cash-strapped Kirkcaldy club who are already dealing with falling some £80,000 short of the figure they had projected for last season could lose £30,000 as a result.
Hutton said: ”We lost a pile of money last year a lot of that because of the referees’ strike when we were supposed to play Dundee at home.
”If there was one club that suffered the most from Neil Lennon having a go at referees it was Raith Rovers. So we’re pretty bitter about that.”
He added: ”We started this season with budget projections, and crowds are already down.
”Now the league has told us that the expectation is that we’re going to be 30% down on the money we get from them at the end of the season because of an ongoing court case about fixture lists and pools.
”Basically, all the associations have been given payments for the right to print fixtures, but this has been challenged. I believe that in England they have taken the view that they won’t be making interim payments while this is ongoing and Scotland has followed.
”Last year we got about £100,000 at the end of the season, so on that basis we would lose £30,000.”
It would be fair to say that Hutton is unimpressed with the Scottish football authorities at present.
He said: ”What does all this say about the state of football in this country? How long do we have to wait for Doncaster (SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster) and Regan (SFA chief executive Stewart Regan) to get their act together on how the game should be run?
”They are making it nearly impossible for a club to sustain full-time football outwith the SPL. They’re shovelling the deckchairs around the promenade while Scottish football disintegrates.”
Meanwhile, a nine-point concordat has been agreed between the board of Raith Rovers and its supporters.
It contains the aims and values that will influence how the Stark’s Park outfit will operate and develop in the future.
Hutton said: ”It’s a blueprint that all Raith Rovers supporters will put the club’s best interests at heart. A lot of clubs have them.”