Peterhead captain Scott Brown admits it has been a fraught few weeks.
Since football was shut down in mid-March, the Blue Toon skipper has been busy keeping his colleagues abreast of any developments and how they may effect the Buchan squad.
The 25-year-old also held discussions on behalf of the players with Balmoor chairman Rodger Morrison and manager Jim McInally.
Before the government’s job retention scheme was introduced last month, wage cuts were having to be discussed.
Brown was one a number of the Peterhead squad who, along with the management team, offered to forego their pay.
The midfielder is pleased it didn’t come that with the Blue Toon players now on furlough.
Brown said: “Originally before the furlough, the chairman had come to us and discussed taking cuts.
“That’s difficult to talk about because every player is in a different situation.
“Some boys have jobs away from football and some boys don’t so it’s hard. You can’t just judge everyone by what you do yourself.
“Some boys were asking me ‘what should I do?’ But I said to them if they needed to take the money nobody would think anything less of them because everybody is in a different position.
“But thankfully it didn’t come to that and the furloughing scheme came in.
“I’m in a fortunate position where I have another job and if it had come to it I would’ve gone without wages.
“It wouldn’t have been a difficult decision for me because the club have been good to me and I’ve enjoyed playing for the club.”
Brown only became Peterhead captain in January following Rory McAllister’s departure, with the role changing considerably from normal circumstances where the role of skipper extends mainly to leading the team out for games and organising social events.
He added: “We had a meeting a few days before the current lockdown restrictions came in.
“Myself, Simon Ferry, David Nicholls (assistant manager), the manager and the chairman all sat round the table and tried to thrash things out.
“You can imagine that can be difficult because I’m trying to work in the best interests of the boys, the chairman is trying to work in the best interests of the club and the gaffer is the middle-man really.
“It was a difficult time, but the government furlough scheme has helped a lot of clubs out including Peterhead.”
