SFSA BLUE PLAQUES LAUNCH FIND OUT MORE
Date: 19th February 2026
What is punishment for?
By Donald C Stewart
Hamilton Academical have been hit with further points deductions, this time, for failing to pay wages. At the tail end of 2025, they breached the rules once more and have been hit with even more points off.
I saw the announcement on the BBC website and there’s a picture that accompanies the latest BBC report regarding these deductions on their website. It shows an artistic view of their home, that is to say not the home that they’re currently in, i.e. Broadwood, but New Douglas Park. This the home, built for them, they left under their previous “unfit to run the club” regime.
The report highlights that overall, 21 points this season and 36 in total have been deducted from Hamilton Academical. On each and every single occasion, the reasons behind these are well made and met.
There have been protestations and admission along the way.
They have also admitted that they have failed to meet their tax obligation and there’s every possibility that they will eventually have to prove that they have done something about that. In their recent six point blow it was Hamilton themselves who self-reported. The League One club now sit ninth, perilously close to being dumped down into League Two.
Scottish football does have precedent for sending people into League Two because they have transgressed off the pitch. Think of Rangers over those many years ago where it became a hot topic of debate as to whether or not the administration into which they found themselves should see them being punished in some obscure league in the west coast of Scotland or put back into the premiership because of the tradition and the fact that they carried a large number of supporters. Those supporters once Rangers came through the leagues, spread the beneficence of that large travelling support. For a number of clubs, they managed to survive years without having to dip into the emotions of their support to try and survive financially.
Hamilton Academical are a proud club. They go back way back to the late 19th century and were one of the first clubs in Scottish Football. That should not give them a guarantee to get back on their feet. They are not a club that has a pass for transgressions. Absolutely not. However, a member club of an organisation having paid their dues for decades, like those of us who have had a subscription to somewhere for a long period of time, often feel that that gives us some degree of hope. We admit to our service that things have got a little bit tough, and instead of getting punishment, we get understanding. The future relationship is guided by a hope of continuation and not severance. For us, we might cut the Sky subscription completely. For Hamilton, oblivion does not mean coming back. Loom at Gretna 2008, currently sitting at the bottom of the Lowland League, just above… East Stirlingshire. Remember them?
The SPFL have said that they “continue to work constructively with the new board.” The new board have taken on a real toughy, and that is an understatement.
What they need is cash. What they don’t seem to have is cash.
So how they’re going to dig themselves out of this, goodness knows.
I think that for supporters, the real punishing time here is the amount of struggle they have endured over a prolonged period of time. This saga has been going on for too long. There should be some kind of support given that would allow Hamilton Academical to see milestone moments, that allows the club and the supporters openly, honestly and transparently to see what’s going on. It needs to be clear, how they can get themselves out of this current hole.
We have seen over the past few decades, clubs who have found themselves in similar situations. I can remember being a reporter for Kick-Talk at Airdrie when Jim Leishman came to talk to reporters about a rescue bid for Dunfermline Athletic. (It was an Airdrie United v Dunfermline game, he had not just randomly turned up hoping to find Chic Young hanging about). There was a degree of excitement that he was coming to tell us a story, because there was a lot of rumour and speculation going on. You could palpably feel amongst the hacks and the reporters who had cynically been part of this wolfpack for decades that they felt really sad that somebody of Leishman’s standing was basically talking about the loss of something he had dedicated most of his life to. People felt a degree of sadness that 42 could be 41 in terms of the number of SPFL clubs.
There was also Clyde where they decided not to default on their debts but dig themselves out of it. Plummet as they did with relegations down to League 2, they attempted to get safety and security relocating to Broadwood. The fact that they are in Hamilton’s New Douglas Park is an irony, I have consistently gone back to time and time again.
And so, what is the future for Hamilton Academical?
The worst part of this is I don’t know. The even worse part of that is that supporters don’t seem to be completely aware either.
There should be more transparency here and we should be all lending a shoulder to the wheel and feeling that somehow there is a way forward for the club and for the fans if not goodness knows what’s going to happen to a once proud club who was a massive part of Scottish football and still are while Clyde look as though through Darren Young they are climbing up towards the playoffs in League 2. Dunfermline Athletic are currently having a resurgence that could see them at least being in the playoffs for the Premier League this season. We can but hope that such a resurgence for Hamilton Academical is somewhere on their horizon. If not, the loss of this club would be something we should all mourn.
IMAGE : HOMES OF FOOTBALL
Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: Hamilton Accies, oor Donald, SFA, SPFL