Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admits his playing budget has already been impacted because of the financial pressures caused by coronavirus.
Robinson said the Fir Park club could no longer “gamble” on players after revealing some have already been told their deals would not be renewed.
“It’s the hardest bit of football,” Robinson said of squad cuts.
“Everyone is going to have to tighten their purse strings… we aren’t in a position to take gambles.”
Robinson guided Motherwell, the only fan-owned club in the Premiership, to third place in the table.
And he revealed that he has already made some tough decisions regarding his squad for next season.
“Some are probably dictated by finance at the moment. Everyone is going to have to tighten their purse strings. So boys who we were maybe going to give another year to to see how they progress we weren’t able to. We just had to get to the base squad we are committed to.
“Difficult conversations but I think it was only fair to them to do it as quickly as possible to give them a heads up on their livelihoods and careers, as up until then there was still a remote chance we may have come back to play the season out.
“We aren’t in a position to take gambles. We take a couple each year.”
A high turnover of players is nothing new at Fir Park. Thirteen first-team members left last summer, with Robinson retaining a core for this season’s campaign.
While some were told they would not be staying on Monday, new contracts have been offered to several first-team players, with clarity expected by the end of the week.
However, Robinson admits terms offered to some may change as the club adapts to financial constraints.
“Boys we have offered contracts to we are still hoping to fulfil them. It may be at a lower rate of pay,” he said.
“I haven’t got the budget yet as all this only happened yesterday. But it’s going to make an impact, make no mistake. Every club in the country will be exactly the same, not just us.
“We are in a decent position in terms of where we finished and European football, but there will be a big impact on budget and the club, staff and Scottish football as a whole.
“We have boys contracted. We will try to fulfil the contracts to the younger boys we have offered contracts to, as that is who the club is going to be built around.
“This will become clearer this week when Jim [McMahon, chairman], Alan [Burrows, chief executive] and the board sit down on Zoom and thrash out what we are able to give. There will be a worst-case scenario which is right now when we don’t know when crowds are coming in, the next when it starts opening up a little bit and possibly back to normally.”
Monday’s announcement that the league season had been called meant Motherwell had secured European football for the first time in six years.
And Robinson added: “It’s fantastic for the whole football club, the players should be very proud. Ultimately, I thought we would have finished third over the calendar year anyway.
“I think we thoroughly deserved it, some of the football we’ve played has been excellent and some of the young players have really stood up.”
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