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Former Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason reveals steps football bodies in Iceland have taken to help clubs

Ex-Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason.
Ex-Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason.

While Scottish football clubs have struggled to find consensus on the way ahead, former Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason says Iceland is rallying around its member teams.

Iceland international Arnason is back in his homeland with Vikingur, who were due to start their new campaign next weekend on April 22.

The coronavirus has stopped football in Iceland completely but the Icelandic FA and the Icelandic government have moved quickly to help their clubs.

Arnason said: “KSI (Iceland FA) have agreed to pay out the majority of prize money to the club.

“They have paid out a big chunk of the money to the clubs that they would have got at the end of the season.

“I believe our clubs are also getting financial help from the government as well.

“We don’t have clubs the size of Celtic, Aberdeen or Rangers but our clubs still pay a lot of money to our players and it has been hard for our clubs because the gate receipts have gone and football has gone at every level.

“We also have a youth set-up where parents pay for their children to play football and so there have been a lot of lost revenues at grass roots level as well.

“We need to find solutions and everybody is helping out.

Arnason left the Dons in 2018.

“The government is helping out, the league is doing their bit and the players are also playing their part in taking wage cuts.”

Like his former club Arnason is among the players at Vikingur to have taken a wage cut to try to help his side through a challenging financial period.

For the 37 year-old, who is old enough to recall other clubs in Iceland going out of business, it was an easy decision to make.

He said: “I have taken a wage cut.  I think every player has but I think that is only fair to our club and supporters that we take such action.

“It is not like we are training together as a team.  We are putting the work in but on our own, like we would be if we were retired.

“Nobody is having to turn up for work so why should we expect our full wage?

“There have been clubs in the past of clubs in Iceland struggling to survive. Every team seems to get through it because the last time we lost a team it was in the 1980s if my memory serves me correctly.

“There is concern but I don’t think it will come to that.  If it comes down to players taking no wages for a certain time then I think that would happen.”

As for when a sense of normality can return Arnason is optimistic.

He said: “We are trying to get on with our normal lives. It is getting better hopefully and now there are only a few more incidents per day now.  We are keeping fingers crossed by the end of next month that we can get back to our normal lives.”