ST MIRREN today announced they have placed playing and non-playing staff at the Simple Digital Arena on the government’s job retention scheme in order to protect their “very existence”.
The Paisley club confirmed they will ensure that employees who are furloughed during the coronavirus crisis will receive their full salaries.
A statement on the Ladbrokes Premiership outfit’s website stressed they needed to act rapidly in order to stave off the threat of financial problems.
“Your board has had to consider what action to take, and quickly, to protect our long-term future and very existence,” the statement read.
“Firstly, we don’t want our people to have to worry about their income at a time of many other family concerns. Secondly, we are protecting the club’s ability to live within our means and keeping us debt-free, a position we are currently in due to the prudence and commitment of successive boards.
“The challenge is that nobody knows when football will resume and when St Mirren will again have an income from that source. As things stand, we don’t even know if this season will be completed or when next season will begin.
“Taking all of this into account, and to make sure none of our staff is left financially worse off, we have decided to make immediate use of the job retention scheme. We are committed to ensuring we will make up any difference to their usual pay level.”
The club also confirmed that season tickets for next season would be on sale from Monday.
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 here