Luton Town will have to sell players to help fill the financial blackhole left by the Coronavirus shutdown of football, that’s according to chief executive Gary Sweet.
The Hatters will return to training on Monday more than two months after being told to keep fit at home, in line with social distancing guidelines.
Twice-a-week testing will be in place for players and staff, with a view to resuming Championship action sometime in June.
However, any games will be played behind closed doors, and like all EFL clubs, Luton’s finances have already been hit hard from the lack of match-day revenue, with the threat that that situation could continue into 2021.
Town have already furloughed staff and parted ways with manager Graeme Jones and three of his coaching team to help ease the burden, though are yet to come to an agreement with players around wage cuts or deferrals.
Asked if the financial pressures could mean the need for Town to flog some of their squad, when the transfer window opens after the conclusion of season, Sweet said: “Honestly, anything that moves at the moment is up for sale. It literally is a case of let’s [not] worry about what team and squad we’ve got next season.
“Let’s really understand that everything is an asset, everything’s got a price, everything’s available. This is all about having cash in the bank today.
“I look at our longer-term forecasts and we are in a great position in two years’ time, absolutely fantastic, if all of those predictions come true. We just need to get there.
“If we can survive the next 12 months, we are in fantastic shape – then we can rebuild and we can reset. But there’s a lot of clubs thinking the same way.”
