Premiership football clubs are not immune to the downturn blighting the hospitality sector, recruiters have claimed.

Despite having the ability to spend huge sums of money on the likes of a Cristiano Ronaldo or youngsters such as Theo Walcott, cutbacks on entertainment are having an impact on the nation’s football clubs, according to Gary King, director at Collins King & Associates.

“We work with a few of them and they are not immune at all remember football only equates to a percentage of income as the ground is only used one or two days a week max for football - the rest is either used for conference and events or restaurant space, which is down in usage at all grounds at the moment as companies cut back on entertaining.”

Paula Rogers, director at Admiral, told Recruiter: “I don’t think Premier League football clubs will be immune from the slump because they also rely heavily on income from hospitality and if companies are cutting back on corporate hospitality and entertaining, this is bound to have a knock-on effect on the clubs.

“I still feel strongly that top level sporting events will be very well attended as we have seen in Wembley and Twickenham.”

And it’s not just Premiership clubs that are suffering. The downturn even extends to golf clubs, Marian Barker, director at horticulture recruiter Anders plus, says: “Groundkeepers are highly skilled. It is a niche area. Golf clubs are suffering so membership is down. People are not playing as much.”