Clyde still face financial threat

Clyde have revealed they are still making losses despite releasing their whole squad to avoid administration at the end of last season.

And a website statement has warned of "two years of extreme financial pressure" for the Cumbernauld club.

The club have signed a new group of players on drastically reduced terms.

But Clyde say: "Despite expenditure being significantly cut this season, we continue to run with a deficit budget which we need to eradicate."

The statement came ahead of Saturday's start of the new football season, the Bully Wee taking on Stenhousemuir in the first round of the Alba Challenge Cup.

"Last season proved to be a traumatic one for Clyde both on and off the field, with relegation to the Second Division and the club, for a time, being faced with eviction from Broadwood," it said.

The budget will be by far the lowest in the division Clyde board statement

"To maintain full-time football at Clyde on our previous income streams was always a battle and, consequently, when some of them dried up in the recession and costs rose, the club was unable to live outwith its means without the necessary infrastructure in place to react to the negatives that hit the club."

Clyde thanked the Back the Bully Wee Fund for helping ease the immediate financial pressure on the club, but their statement warned that the historic debt remained and that last season's fundraising target of £140,000 had not been met.

The club's existence was under threat last season because of rent arrears with North Lanarkshire Council for Broadwood Stadium.

And Clyde's statement coincided with Livingston's plunge into administration because of debts owed to West Lothian Council for their Almondvale Stadium.

"At present, we are negotiating with our current landlords, NLC/Broadwood Stadium and also talking to our future landlords, North Lanarkshire Leisure Trust," said the statement from Clyde's board.

"These discussions will have a significant bearing on our position in the future but the short-term relief gained previously will result in two years of extreme financial pressure for the football club.

"The steps taken to safeguard the club last season with debt deferral means that, over the next 18 months, we are paying out more than £200,000 in historic debt.

"That money comes directly from resources that otherwise would have been directed to the manager to build the playing squad and, in the short term, that will make success on the park a far harder task to achieve."

The statement went on: "The budget will be by far the lowest in the division, but we have signed a number of talented and hungry players, all keen to do well for themselves and Clyde.

"Our priority throughout this period, however, is to keep our club safe."

Clyde's board said their strategy would be to build community links while aiming for a balanced budget and asked the club's fans to be patient in their desire for a return to Division One.