Come on Spurs, don't be spoilsports...
Marine’s players will be furloughed if they do not beat Tottenham Hotspur in their FA Cup third-round tie, Marine CEO James Leary has told The Athletic.
Leary, speaking on the Business of Sport podcast with Mark Chapman and Matt Slater, also said that his eighth-tier club had missed out on approximately £100,000 due to their FA Cup run being played behind closed doors.
Marine play in the Northern Premier League Division One North West and have only played seven league games this season due to COVID-19 — as well as five matches in the FA Cup to get to the third round. They are not classed as “elite” so their season has been put on hold during the national lockdown.
Leary admitted it would be “soul-destroying” if their season did not restart. He added that the stoppage in their season had made it difficult to plan for the Tottenham game as clubs have been unwilling to loan players to Marine for what is, as it stands, just one game.
“We’ve had major difficulties with players for the Tottenham game,” said Leary.
“The problem we had was the teams that we had loaned (players) from, were saying ‘hang on a second, that means that when your game’s finished against Tottenham, you’re going to have three weeks where our players won’t be able to play for us as a result’.”
“Being behind closed doors in the FA Cup run we’ve missed out on £100,000,” Leary confirmed.
He did, however, say that Marine’s momentous run has still provided a massive financial boost to the club, saying: “We budget to make about £3,000 in the FA Cup each year. So when you take what we’ve done, it’s just unbelievable.
“Our wage budget was probably between the £100,000-130,000 mark to start the season — we’ve probably just shy of doubled that.”
