Sligo Rovers treasurer David Rowe says the club's board had no choice but to make the decision to temporarily lay off all of their staff.
With the Premier Division club reliant on gate receipts and the uncertainty surrounding the League of Ireland's return date due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bit 'o Red made the decision to lay off all players, management, coaching and administration staff.
They will be entitled to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment, while all foreign players have already returned home, with the help of the club.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Rowe described the decision as "traumatic" to make but necessary for the club to survive.
"For two weeks now, the club has been closed effectively," he said.
"[We] couldn't train, couldn't play matches. We're very much a community-funded and based club and simply we were going to run out of money or we have run out of money.
"So, very traumatic and very difficult for all our staff, difficult for all our supporters for the board to make that decision.
"But we've done so with the long-term view to have a good Sligo Rovers and a strong Sligo Rovers come through this.
"Sometimes you just have to do things that are in the long-term interests and we believe that's what we've done and I don't think anybody can realistically see League of Ireland football happening until the summer or the far side of the summer."
Rowe also discussed how the players and staff reacted to the decision.
"Our players, staff and management team were very gracious about it," he said.
"They understand the position. They all live in the community here in Sligo, so they understand that the supporter and fanbase is going through very tough times.
"It's very visible, the number of shops, hotels that are closed down here. We're part of a local community and we just think it's the responsible thing to do.
"I suppose we're almost unique in our model. We have huge fundraising totals and we have to be cognisant of the fact that our supporters are going through their own difficulties in jobs etc over the next period of time.
"So we will have a strong Sligo Rovers at the other side of this and that's why we took the difficult decision that we took. But we believe that we will come back as a very strong club when football resumes."
