Clyde Battle For Tv Cash

Jan 13 2008 By Ewan Smith

CLYDE were last night fighting to rescue an £82,500 windfall after their Sky TV clash with Dundee United was called off because of a frozen pitch.

The First Division minnows saw their desperate attempts to play the Scottish Cup fourth-round tie - scheduled for 12.45pm yesterday - dashed at just after 11 by ref Mike Tumilty.

That left Clyde facing the nightmare prospect of missing out on their share of the £165,000 TV money with a fixture pile-up and congested live calendar putting the screening in doubt.

They spent an hour locked in talks with United officials but have yet to come to a firm agreement to move the game to accommodate TV.

The only available live Sky slot is Thursday because of live English Championship, FA Cup replay and Spanish football matches.

But United don't want to put back Saturday's expected 14,000 sell-out against Aberdeen.

Further talks will take place tomorrow but Clyde are in real danger of losing cash that could fund their wage bill for a season.

Manager Colin Hendry, who had his players training on the Broadwood turf just hours after the call-off, said: "You can't underplay the importance of the money we would stand to get from TV for playing this game.

"The £82,500 fee is a lot to a club like ours. Let's face it - it's a lot of cash in anyone's terms and could mean the difference between signing players or not.

"I could do so much for our team with the extra money so the hope is somehow we get a deal to have this game shown again on Sky.

"I don't know if it will be possible and if it doesn't happen we will just have to deal with the blow.

"We made strong efforts to keep the game on and in days gone by players like myself would have played on the pitch.

"We're training on it because there is nowhere else and also because you take your own risks."

Tannadice chairman Eddie Thompson insists his club will do all they can to help Clyde get the cash - but not at the expense of an SPL fixture backlog.

Thompson said: "We have spoken to Clyde and it's clear they want the game played on Thursday to get the TV money.

"We want to be as accommodating as possible because we're sympathetic to their plight but can't possibly play on Thursday.

"There are 14,000 people coming to watch us face Aberdeen on Saturday - with 5,000 away tickets sold - so how can we turn round at this late stage and say the game will now be on Sunday?

"We couldn't keep it to Saturday either because my manager Craig Levein wouldn't want to play two matches in 48 hours.

"That leaves waiting another week as the only option for TV but the SFA are reluctant to do that in case the game goes to a replay.

"It's a complicated situation and we'll hold further talks tomorrow.

"We also stand to lose our share of the TVmoney but I can't see how it's going to change." While Clyde seem to have had their jackpot swiped away United manager Levein insists the Broadwood pitch wasn't safe.

Levein said: "Parts were soft, others hard and it would only take a player slipping and falling on his head for there to be a serious injury.

"Inmy day we'd play on concrete but times have moved on. The irony is if the game had been later it may have gone ahead because the pitch has got better with time. But it was the right decision."

Ref Tumilty said: "When I inspected the pitch there were solid parts that would have endangered the players' safety and that was my biggest concern."