Angus Kinnear says Leeds United can survive 'eight or nine months' without fans

It seems certain that when English football resumes it will initially do so without spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some have suggested mass gatherings could be prohibited until a vaccine is found, and second-guessing when that will be is impossible.

Not having played since the first week of March has caused serious problems for some Football League clubs, and the lockdown has further cut their income.

Resuming the 2019-20 season behind closed doors could protect the league’s broadcast deals, but would still deprive clubs of matchday revenue. In the short-term, Kinnear is confident the Whites could cope, but a prolonged period would require radical restructuring.

“It would be a very serious situation,” said Kinnear. “Like a lot of businesses, all our revenue streams dried up overnight, the football financing market, certainly for Championship clubs, also died out overnight as well.

“We are well-funded, we have a generous owner (Andrea Radrizzani) who is committed to the club, and we can weather the short-term (damage). But if behind-closed-doors was persistent in the long-term, it really brings significant challenges and it requires restructuring the business model in some really radical ways.”

As the game looks into ways of restarting the season, there are reports the Football League is considering hosting matches at “regional hubs”. Some grounds may not be entirely suitable for maintaining social distancing protocols off the field, and grouping games together would reduce demands on emergency services.

Leeds players and coaches were amongst the first in the country to defer wages “for the foreseeable future”. Many clubs are still to reach agreements.

Gaetano Berardi is Leeds’s only senior player out of contract at the end of June, which should make life easier if the season drags on beyond it, as it will have to if it is to be completed. But Kinnear hinted deals might have to be renegotiated in the event of a long period without fans.

Leeds have the Championship’s biggest attendances, bringing in around £550,000 a game. Promotion, which they are on course for as long as the season is not voided, would put them in the Premier League, where broadcast deals make up a far bigger proportion of income.

Kinnear believes Leeds could survive behind closed doors until late 2020.

“I think if it is for eight or nine months, I am confident that Leeds United could survive,” he said. “It would be challenging and it is about how the business model would have to adapt.

“The biggest challenge is around player wages, that’s the primary cost for all clubs in the Championship. We have some very cooperative players who believe in our club and believe in our long-term future, and we would have to work with them if the situation persisted.

“But we have real hope that, as the tide starts to turn, that if we all work together, a return to football is still a possibility.”

Leeds have Jack Harrison (Manchester City), Ben White (Brighton and Hove Albion), Helder Costa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Illan Meslier (Lorient) and Jean-Kevin Augustin (RB Leipzig) on loan this season, and what would happen were the campaign went into extra-time is another grey area, but having had positive discussions, Kinnear is confident it could be resolved.

“I think the longer it goes on, the more challenging it gets from a contractual perspective,” he admitted. “What I have been really encouraged by is the collegiate way football is trying to work together to solve these issues.

“We have already had discussions with players we have on loan and their clubs, and discussions with the EFL and with UEFA because we have some international loans, and some situations we have to resolve.

“We think there is a collective intent to find solutions, and I don’t think it is beyond the wit of man that if we work together, we can find those solutions to complete the season, even if it goes beyond June 30.”

All 10 Yorkshire league clubs have players on loan, with Sheffield United, Barnsley, Huddersfield Town, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City borrowing players from clubs outside England.

The Blades have goalkeeper Dean Henderson on loan from Manchester United, who would be rivals for a European place in a resumed season.

Clubs also face the issue of players out of contract. It is particularly acute lower down the leagues, were contracts are typically shorter. Bradford have 14 players not due to work for them beyond June, and League Two colleagues Stevenage say they only have two contracted players past then.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor