Sunderland's League One rival issues stark financial warning for future of football

While there were initial hopes that spectators could begin to return to fixtures from October 1 it was confirmed on Tuesday that won’t be the case and it could be up to six months before fans are allowed back in due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

As reported by the Echo yesterday, Sunderland could lose over £250,000 per game in lost revenue with the League One campaign set to continue behind closed doors.

Pompey CEO Mark Catlin told The News: “As with all businesses, football isn’t unique, Portsmouth definitely isn’t unique. We are totally at the mercy of the government.

"This is why I keep hammering the stability message.

“As a club we have to remain consistent, keep working hard and just keep plugging through these disappointments – and hopefully as many clubs as possible can come out the other side.

“But, with each month it goes on, I am now really starting to worry. Unless fans are going to be allowed back in or there is some form of bail out, I worry for the future of football generally unless something is done urgently.

“We are stable, but even a club as stable as us are losing revenue at this moment in time. That’s £700,000-plus each month in lost revenue.

“That is a big hit for any company. We are doing our best, so far we haven’t made any redundancies, and we’ll keep trying to do the right thing moving forward.”

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