SFSA BLUE PLAQUES LAUNCH FIND OUT MORE
Date: 24th October 2025
Can’t Pay Won’t Pay
By Donald C Stewart
Losses of £1.4M as opposed to owing £1.5M to creditors or £¾M to the bank or being ordered to pay a former sponsor whilst a second division club is referring itself to their governing body over a non-payment of a fee.
This aint La Liga. Nor Le Ligue. Nor the English Premiership…
The se are all things that are happening down the lower leagues of the Scottish Professional Football League.
The biggest worry, aside from St Johnstone referring themselves to the SPFL or Cove Rangers being under growing financial pressure is the fact that Hamilton Academical is being refused a payment of £70,000 from the SPFL because their latest losses – £1.4M losses – have suggested to the SPFL that Hamilton might not be able to fulfil their fixtures in the current season.
They have also been further fined and punished because they have been found guilty of paying players and fielding players when they were not supposed to.
If you’re a fan or supporter of any club hearing that they are in financial difficulties it is a bit of a tough one to take the first time. I have lost count how many times, there have been headlines made about the Accies being punished because their admin is rank.
You might think there were no CEOs or CFOs or whoever on the terraces who could give a wee hand out…
We all put our faith in our directors because we bought into the myth that directors had a bit of cash on their hip and they had the ability to run businesses. We thought because they were a bit more business savvy than the rest that regulations, of which all organisations tasked with running sports are awfy fond, would be meat and drink to them.
All it seems to be producing for the supporters of Accies is further bile.
Fans aint daft. They know that the financial pressures that are faced by clubs are enormous and the fact that Cove Rangers owe £1.5M to other creditors or £¾M to the bank should be a worry itself for the supporters of that Northeastern club.
In fairness to the directors of the Accies, they have claimed that their upfront payment for Broadwood is evidence of their financial stability.
But, let’s take a moment, a breathe if you will, to reflect on where things are.
Hamilton Academical fans are facing the very real possibility that their entire history is going to be wiped out like a new Third Lanark. Whilst we are witnessing the re-emergence of Clydebank, sitting near the summit of the Lowland League, they may be ironically ready to take the place of a club about to drop out the SPFL – A new Airdrie United, if you will…
Accies fans cannot take prolonged wilderness years again.
They need back to where they were led to the Premier League under Alex Neil, watching players who emerged from their Academy to command fees and headlines that put them on the map. New Douglas Park is now because Douglas Park began it all. They need to go home.
How can that be achieved?
By putting the voices of the fans front and centre of any change – that’s how. So, if you are serious about it – take part in our survey. Give the politicians the screaming wishes of our collective voices and demand they be heard, Scottish football is the biggest mass participation sport in the country – surely it needs to be front and centre of the elections in 2026 – no matter your politics.
So, let’s create our manifesto. So, let’s hear what you would want in it so the politicians area ware what are vote winers and what are absolute no – nos…
The last time we did this we managed to get our ideas onto tables and discussed. Fans together are formidable. Voices, however, need the megaphone of the Scottish Football Supporter’s Association and here is how you can achieve that –
The organisation says that it is “excited to look for fresh and innovative thinking that can help move the dial on how the game in Scotland is developed from the grassroots right to the top of the pyramid. Football fans need a voice and their votes are very much up for grabs.”
The SFSA is Scotland’s only fully independent supporters’ organisation, open to fans from all clubs and at all levels of our national game. A non-profit voluntary body and a registered Community Interest Company with some 85,000 individual and corporate members, the SFSA works with fans, clubs, the football authorities and the Scottish Government to make Scottish football better for everyone, with supporters at the heart of it.
You can do the survey here https://surveymars.com/q/ebRDYTnla
See SFSA website for more information: www.scottishfsa.org
Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: Fan Led Review, Hampden Park, Manifesto, oor Donald, SFA, SPFL