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Date: 13th April 2024
Dundee FC is about to get a thrashing – not on the pitch but about it.
The lack of investment in their playing surface is to be scrutinized because the SPFL premiership split is being jeopardised because of the postponements recently. Those postponements have included a game against Rangers now scheduled to happen after the split being formalised and there are a few clubs not happy about that.
Clubs battling to get into the top 6 believe that the old phrase “sporting integrity” is being compromised because they are going into final Premiership games unaware of the exact significance of those games – they want to be in a position where they have the chance to play in knowledge of what their efforts bring rather than in ignorance of what and who they will be playing after their final, pre spilt games.
It is a bit of a mess…
Meanwhile in England, Everton and Sheffield United are finding themselves being the subject of points penalties due to breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. From the vantage point of way up here, we are looking way down there wondering how it is that Sheffield United are guilty of breaching them and the likes of Manchester City are not! But City have a bigger case to come and the penalties they may face are massive. So huge are the implications of falling foul of the FFP that Manchester United have even started to reign in expenditure as the new guy in the boardroom has done the equivalent of cutting up the credit cards of most of the ancillary staff and cancelled the use of various car hire companies, according to press reports.
Money is a serious business.
And for Dundee, that is massively true as they face the music over their pitch and have published accounts recently showing losses in one year nearly £3 Million and are looking to lose much the same, this year.
Football has come a long way since the days of the local second-hand car dealer with the sheepskin coat in the boardroom managing to finance a few wee deals and offer some extra work on the side to part-time players needing to make up a fiscal shortfall in their wages. In fact, I almost got misty eyed when the phrase, sporting integrity got used – remember the days, dark ones of Rangers falling down divisions?
Dundee will not suffer, however, as their major shareholder has guaranteed that money shall be found, and nobody need worry. And performances, if not on the park, at least on the balance sheet, are expected to improve. Their statement reads that their projections for that improvement come “… on the basis of conservative assumptions as to the league position to be achieved by the football club, attendance levels at matches and the management of all costs, including expenditure on players costs.”
Dundee will have to defend their position over the pitch whilst planning a move away from Dens Park. It shall put to an end the smallest gap between rivals as they move lock, stock and barrel to a new site.
There is no suggestion in the accounts or any statement as to which position in the league shall secure their financial positions, nor any indication over what the player budget might have to behave to which levels, but these are concerning times, not just for Dundee but there are implications for everyone in the game.
Livingston’s demise, having been the darling of us all for overachieving, is now looking to the Championship for next year. Dundee United have invested heavily this year and look to be in the driving seat as they stop an East Coast Fife treble – League Two Champions – Stenhousemuir, League One Champions – Falkirk, Championship – Raith Rovers? – but much of the narrative around them has been about being financially unable to contemplate one more season in the lower leagues. It has driven much of the coverage of Jim Goodwin and his side. The pressure to manage to get out of the Championship has, at times, shown. They have stumbled and then, just at the right time, have combined a bit of luck with finding form to be on the pathway to the golden land.
But is it a golden land?
Promotion into the big league comes with big expectations. Having games postponed in the lower leagues causes little by way of anxiety, unless you fall out of the SPFL and there are so many cup competitions that you end up playing, like Buckie Thistle are doing in the Highland League, 4 games in 8 days which could decide whether they or Brechin City are champions. Or Albion Rovers who played catch up when they were 7 or 8 games behind at the beginning of the season. But in the big league it is an issue because of European competitions, the end of the league being decided and massive bonuses on the hook of each place in the league. Or what the budget might be to sort a playing surface for next year when they are leaving the stadium in future? And having been in administration twice, nobody needs to tell Dundee about what that means for them.
Aye, money, a serious business. Mind you, the major contributors, the fans, have an opinion on that too and you wonder how much of tehri view shall guide Everton, Sheffield United, Manchester City, Manchester United or Dundee? At least in Dundee we know there is some semblance of fans on the board, and they are significant shareholders which means there is influence. We should all be casting an eye on how that influence, at times of some worry is being used and respected
Posted in: Latest News
Tags: Dundee, Rangers, Scottish football, SFA