Peterhead: League 1 side make 29 staff redundant

Peterhead general manager Martin Johnston is "surprised" other clubs have not announced redundancies after the League 1 club let go 29 people.

When the government's furlough scheme closes at the end of October, the group of part-time and occasional staff - mainly in hospitality - will leave.

Johnston says the lack of fans has put Peterhead under "serious constraints".

"For a club that has no money coming in, it is near impossible to continue to pay staff to sit at home," he said.

"I suspect Peterhead will not be the only club going into this situation and there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses that will be making similar decisions as ours this week.

"We have no impending fears on the future of the club but we do have concerns that if we are in a similar situation come December, January, February then it may well be a different conversation."

A number of clubs in the lower leagues are streaming their games in a bid to claw back some of their lost income while fans are locked out.

However, for Peterhead that has failed to fill the financial black hole that the Covid-19 crisis has caused.

"When we played Brechin City in the League Cup we had 69 pay-per-view customers," Johnston said. "That generated £690. We normally take in somewhere in the region of a five-figure fee for a home game - that is the difference."