Neil Lennon has revealed his Celtic squad could be forced to take wage cuts to save the Hoops financially during the coronavirus shutdown.
All Celts players and management are currently self-isolating at home as Scottish football ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And Parkhead boss Lenny has refused to rule out any possibility of cuts, despite being the wealthiest club in the country.
READ MORE: Null and void? Current placings? Play to a finish? The pros and cons of all the SPFL's options
When quizzed on the issue on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “Yes. We’ll probably have a look at things at the end of April in terms of the club as a whole.
"Peter Lawwell and the board will review it then. At the minute, we are okay. For Scottish clubs, this is the time of the year when they are putting out season tickets.
"But obviously the general public are very wary and reluctant to part with their money. They don’t know what they are paying for yet and we still haven’t finished this season yet.
"We don’t know whether that’s going to happen or not. We need to get a decision sooner rather than later on that.There has to be a backstop date at some stage so we can start to plan ahead.
READ MORE: Why ex-Rangers defender Gordon Petric has donated €50,000 to fight Covid-19 in Serbia
“We’re financially robust, but are still feeling the hit. We’ve been told by the chief medical officer here it’s going to be 12 to 13 weeks in this situation.
"So it’s really difficult to plan for the future and you have to prepare yourself as best you can for whatever the outcome is going to be.”
Yesterday we told how Newcastle were plotting a £30 million bid for Hoops ace Odsonne Edouard, but Lenny is hoping to keep his star asset long term.
READ MORE: Why Scottish clubs would be "crazy" to invoke Clause 12 and impose pay cuts on players
He added: “The landscape has changed from where we were a month ago to now. There’s no doubt about that.
“It’s uncertain. Ideally you would like to keep your prized assets for at least another year anyway.
“If the market galvanises itself again, you could look at it then.
“There’s no question there’s going to be interest in him.
"But, ideally, we’d like to tie him down to another year on top of what he has already and keep him here.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel