Dundee accept fate as SFA uphold penalty

Robert Thomson

15 Jan 2011

Dundee said last night they will end up their fight against the 25-point sanction imposed by the Scottish Football League.

The Dens Park club have failed in two appeals, first to the SFL and then yesterday when the SFA decided to uphold the points deduction, as well as their ban on signing players.

Previously, Dundee had stated they would consider taking the issue through the courts but there is now a feeling within the club that they must move on.

The club's administrator Bryan Jackson is in the process of putting together a Creditors' Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to allow the club to be released from his control and that is where he will now focus his efforts.

In order for him to do this, he must win a battle with HMRC, who are intent on blocking his plans to have the club's debt reduced to £460,000 in unpaid taxes so he is able to push through his proposals.

With a court case likely to be costly as well as time- consuming, Dundee will now drop the matter and focus on winning the on-field battle for survival in the first division.

Jackson said: "I have not spoken to our solicitors but it is unlikely we will be taking it any further. The costs involved and the timescale make it difficult and I think the focus should now go on to getting through the CVA.

"Although today was a major matter it wasn't the biggest part of it. The main thing is getting the CVA in place and getting out of administration because if we don't do that there is no club.

"We have had the 25 points deducted and have a transfer embargo in place. We just have to look at them as two additional hurdles we have to negotiate."

Meanwhile, the Dundee defender Matt Lockwood accused the Sfl and SFA of trying to "ruin lives" by upholding the 25-point deduction.

Lockwood now fears large-scale job losses at the end of the season if Dundee are relegated to the second division.

He said: "When the SFL first came in with the 25 points it was clear they wanted us down, which would affect jobs both on the playing and non-playing side.

"If this club goes down will it be full-time next year? Probably not. We all have mortgages and bills to pay, so the way we have looked at it is they don't care about that.

"They want Dundee down and don't care about the consequences for the people at the club. They are out to ruin lives. Thirteen people lost their jobs through no fault of their own and they are trying to do it to the rest of us now."

Jackson last night dismissed claims by Livingston that they have not received their transfer fee for Leigh Griffiths.

The Scotland B striker, who is currently involved in another proposed move to Barclays Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, was signed from the West Lothian club for £125,000 in June, 2009.

That transfer was ratified at the time by both the SFA and the SFL. Despite that, Livingston have now written to the SFL claiming they have never been paid for the player.

However, Jackson shot that allegation down. "Livingston had the courtesy to let me know that they were contacting the SFL to say that they had never been paid the transfer fee for Leigh Griffiths," he said.

"However, I have checked our club records and the money did come out of Dundee's bank account and was transferred into Livingston's designated bank account – that is a matter of fact.

"If the money has not gone to Livingston FC and has ended up somewhere else, then that is a matter between them and the third party, not Dundee Football Club.

"I can only say again that I have seen the physical evidence to prove that Dundee paid the money to sign Leigh Griffiths."

Taken from the Herald