SPL clubs ‘technically insolvent’

A LEADING financial analyst has warned that half the clubs in the Bank of Scotland Premier League are technically insolvent.

Predicted losses for the year for SPL clubs are estimated at £55 million, with the cumulative debt likely to be £190 million.

Motherwell have just exited administration while Dundee and Livingston are on their way out of the same financial situation and Dunfermline asked players to take wage cuts to prevent the same fate.

But David Glen of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who compiles the annual audit on the financial status of the SPL, insists SPL clubs are still looking at a period of serious financial uncertainty.

He told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Live: “If you look at the balance sheets, their liabilities exceed their assets so it’s a bit of a sorry state. In the year we looked at, Celtic posted a £5m loss despite reaching the UEFA Cup final. But they can afford to lose that kind of money, other clubs can’t.”