Munster have revealed they may post a financial loss this season for the first time in six years but fans have been assured it won’t affect player recruitment or the hiring of a new coach.
It has been a bad few days for Munster. Dumped out of the Heineken Cup by Ulster, they are still looking for a new coach and they have an injury or two ahead of a big RaboDirect PRO12 game against Glasgow this weekend.
Now, according to today’s Irish Examiner, things are starting to go awry off the pitch too but Munster chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald says it is nothing to worry about.
According to the report, Munster will post a six-figure loss this season, with lower PRO12 attendances during the World Cup, higher interest rates on loans and no cash-generating Thomond concerts this year cited as the cause of the drop in revenue.
Fitzgerald also assured fans that going out of the Heineken Cup was not financially significant, with only a small amount of corporate revenue gone thanks to the Ulster defeat.
But the fans will be most worried about the impact of these financial results to the results that matter; those on the pitch.
Fitzgerald tells the Examiner that the squad number will remain at 39 to cover the internationals and that won’t change. Fitzgerald also said that the recruitment process to replace Tony McGahan is ongoing and it is not affected by the new financial picture.
“We will recover this situation in 2013,” Fitzgerald added. “Efficiencies we have introduced will help us over the next two seasons.”
We hope he’s right, Munster could do with some good news this week.
