Livingston boss David Martindale admits the club may have hit a financial peak and says the effects of the covid pandemic and economic downturn could impact their ability to offer new deals to their out of contract stars.
The gaffer says he will use next week's international break to begin informal conversations with some of the players currently in the final year of their deals but confessed it may be difficult to offer pay rises given the current financial climate.
Captain Nicky Devlin, defender Jack Fitzwater and midfielders Jason Holt, Stephane Omeonga and Scott Pittman headline the list of players who could talk to other clubs in January while Cristian Montano and Joel Nouble have options that the Lions could pick up to extend their deals into next season.
Martindale commented: "The budgets are such that the club’s probably going to make a loss because we’re only now going to see the impact of covid.
“I don’t think we’ll be the only club that’s going to find it difficult to keep giving wage rises out year on year. We’re starting to see the economy bite – who knows what crowds will be like next year?
“We’ve not got an owner with deep pockets who can give us half a million quid and take some shares and get the money back in a couple of years’ time. We’ve not got that, we’ve got to run the club with the bank account in a positive manner to pay the wages every month.
“So, it’s difficult to strike that balance - and to get boys to re-sign."
He added: "We’re in our fifth year in the Premiership, so we’ve probably hit a brick wall in terms of not being able to keep pushing the finances up.
“We’re kind of where we are now and it’s not going to change unless we maybe qualify for Europe or the solidarity payment is triple what it's expected to be - something along those lines.
"Let’s be honest, everybody comes to Livingston not wanting to be at Livingston. Every single person in the building comes as a stepping stone to move on elsewhere. So when it comes to re-negotiating contracts it gets tricky.
"You only need one bad year to lose half a million pounds. If we finish seventh you get £1.65m and you can spend a wee bit more on wages but if you finish eleventh there’s a £400,000 swing."
“It is difficult now, the club’s reaching the stage where it has probably hit its financial limit in terms of being able to bring boys in and give them a pay rise every season or two seasons."
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