As another SPFL club heads for administration, the SFA continues to allow the Ibrox side to trade whilst insolvent. Imagine if it was Celtic?

11/19/2024 01:31 PM

Only a few short weeks ago, despite the best efforts of the club’s supporters, Inverness Caledonian Thistle entered into administration.

As a result, many people, including the manager, lost their jobs.

They were also hit with a 15 point deduction.

Which resulted in them plummeting to the bottom of League 1.

Today, they have been replaced at the bottom of League 1 by Dumbarton FC.

Dumbarton is one of Scotland’s oldest clubs, and has been trading continuously since 1872.

This morning, it was announced that they have also entered administration.

Their points deduction has pushed them below ICT as it has completely wiped out their tally for the 2024/25 season to date.

Late yesterday evening, the Record reported that Dumbarton were likely to enter administration.

That was followed by a report in the Sun this afternoon, confirming the news that administration was a certainty.

It’s deeply concerning that two clubs in the SPFL have entered into administration in such a short space of time.

Yet despite what has happened to Dumbarton, nobody bats an eyelid when the Ibrox club reports losses exceeding £17 million.

That’s all fine and dandy.

One rule for them, but the SFA applies the letter of the law to every other club in Scottish football.

Now, in a normal footballing landscape, you would think that a club that has recorded losses in the hundreds of millions would be taken to task by their football association, wouldn’t you?

As clubs elsewhere in the Scottish League pyramid struggle with miniscule debts in comparison, are hit with points deductions, and all the sanctions that go with entering into administration.

But no, it’s fine for the Ibrox operation to trade whilst insolvent.

Because there’s no other description for that kind of reckless behaviour.

Shouldn’t the SFA be asking themselves why clubs like Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dumbarton are struggling the way that they are?

Are they not concerned that the very existence of one of Scotland’s oldest footballing institutions is under threat?

Remember how massively concerned they were when another club founded in 1872 went to the wall 12 years ago?

Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t save that club either.

The question is, why are clubs like Dumbarton and ICT going to the wall?

Is it down to bad governance at club level?

Or is it down to bad governance at the SFA’s level?

Well, I suppose if you allow a convicted criminal to pass a fit and proper person test to become the chairman of a football club, then that gives you an indication of what goes on in the halls of the SFA.

The simple fact is that two SPFL clubs have gone into administration within weeks of each other.

That’s not a good look for Scottish football.

Nor is it a good look that one club is allowed to post tens of millions in losses.

While all of the rest try to work within the constraints of the rulebook.

How many more clubs are going to go to the wall before someone in the SFA steps up and asks what the hell is going on?

I’ll put it this way, just imagine if Celtic were operating as recklessly as the Ibrox club?

Do you think that we would be allowed to do so without facing any kind of sanctions?

Think again, I’d say.

The SFA would use every rule in the book to make an example of us.

We are blessed to have excellent corporate governance at Celtic Park.

And I know I call out the board more than most when I feel they can do better.

But I cannot flaw the way our club operates in comparison to the basket case across the city.

There is no comparison.

And thankfully, because of that, we’ll never come close to a situation like the one we found ourselves in on a cold and bitter January day in 1994.

It makes you wonder though, how long will it be before the Ibrox club is in that kind of position again?

Will they get their act together?

Or will they go all Gung-ho and bring Steven Gerrard back if Clement leaves for Belgium, as I alluded to in this morning’s article?

We all know that Gerrard is a chequebook manager.

We also know they’re in the kind of financial position they’re in now as a result of his previous spending.

With each passing day, the idea of Gerrard returning to Ibrox grows on me more and more.

They think he’s the answer to all of their problems over there.

When in fact, he could be the one cause of even more.

Oh please, oh please, bring him home.

That said, spare a thought for the supporters of Dumbarton on this dark day.

They definitely deserve our sympathy.

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