Pete Winkelman believes the strong and resilient Stadium MK business that supports Mk Dons, will ensure the Football Club can recover after the Coronavirus pandemic is over.
Stadium MK has suspended trading due to the health crisis, which has led to the Club furloughing the vast majority of staff in line with the Government’s Job Retention Scheme.
Winkelman, though, is cautiously optimistic that once the pandemic is over, the various Stadium MK business can rebound – which in turn, will help the Football Club recover.
“Like many football clubs across the country, it’s terrible [in terms of cash flow] but for us, we have a very strong underlying business,” the Chairman said during a press call with the local media.
“Where we are fortunate is that it is all of our non-football trading that is our strength. We have the number one hotel in Milton Keynes and we have the arena and stadium which hosts nearly every major event in the city.
“If we were only trading as a Football Club, we would be a much more difficult ask for bank support, investment or credit facilities. The strength that we have allows us to rely, in the medium term, on the support we can receive, as the Government foresaw.
“I think there have been some remarkable decisions made by the Government. The Job Retention Scheme, for one, has allowed me to be in a position to sit here today and say that every one of our employees will be paid this month.”
Winkelman continued: “I have some confidence, in the medium-term, that we can see it through. Although our cash-flow has stopped, I’m not in any immediate panic.
“The key in all of this is time. How quickly can we come back and get up to normal trading? We don’t know and that’s why I don’t want to be over confident – the world is in a complete mess.
“But, I do think that strong underlying businesses will be the first to come out of it and the solidity and commitment we’ve shown as a business is a great sign to anybody supporting us, that is something worth supporting.”
