Rescue deal to bring SPFL club out of administration COLLAPSES ‘due to ill-health'
THE SPFL is home to several sides undergoing financial difficulties.
And one of the cash-strapped clubs has received a hammer blow in their efforts to escape administration.
3
Several SPFL sides have been sanctioned for breaching financial rules
Credit: SNS
3
Inverness Caley Thistle are just one of the lower-league clubs to be hit with punishments
Credit: Kenny Ramsay - Commissioned by The Sun
3
An historic side has already suffered relegation thanks to their points deduction
Credit: Willie Vass
Hamilton were docked 15 points in the Championship for breaching financial rules, a sanction which quickly saw them relegated to the third tier.
That decision is still under appeal, but they won't find out whether they're headed for League One until the eve of the final round of Championship games.
And League One has already dished out several punishments of their own, with Inverness also being deducted 15 points after entering administration.
The same penalty was applied to Dumbarton, which sent the Sons tumbling into League Two next term, where a further five-point deduction awaits.
A GoFundMe was organised by fans to keep the club afloat whilst the search for a buyer was ongoing.
And administrators revealed earlier this month they had reached an agreement to secure funding for the next three years.
But now Stephen Farrell's side have seen their hopes of a rescue deal to lift them out of administration COLLAPSE.
Managing director of administrators Quantama Ian Wright revealed in a statement that Gareth Phillips and his Pendragon Group would no longer be committing their funding to the club.
Wright said: "On 15 April, Craig Morrison and I, together, the joint administrators of Dumbarton Football, announced that we had agreed Heads of Terms with Gareth Phillips, in a deal which would see the club exit from administration.
"With regret, today I must announce that due to ill health, Mr Phillips has had to withdraw his offer and in doing so has forfeited the non-refundable deposit which was paid.
SPFL clubs' fans clash on streets
"We are fortunate to be in a position where we have other credible parties who had expressed an interest in acquiring the club out of administration.
"We have already engaged with these parties and will provide a further update as soon as we are able to do so."
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
22 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Sheffield Wednesday placed under transfer embargo by EFL as owner is accused of holding club ‘hostage'
Current Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri has rejected two proposals to buy the club WEDNESDAY WAGE WOE Sheffield Wednesday placed under transfer embargo by EFL as owner is accused of holding club 'hostage' SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY have been placed under a registration embargo for failure to pay wages on time. The Owls will be prevented from adding players to their squad for the 2025/26 Championship season due to multiple breaches of EFL regulations on payment obligations. Advertisement 3 Sheffield Wednesday players and staff have yet to be paid for May Credit: REX 3 The EFL have charged the Owls and owner Dejphon Chansiri with multiple breaches of regulations on payment obligations Credit: GETTY The club were charged this week after failing to pay both players and staff members their wages for May. The sanction has heaped yet more pressure on Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri, who has apologised profusely for the delayed wages, to sell the club. An American consortium is looking to buy the Yorkshire outfit but has had TWO PROPOSALS rejected by Thai tycoon Chansiri. Labour MP for Sheffield South East, Clive Betts, is leading the calls for Chansiri to sell, saying: "He must accept that he needs to sell Wednesday to prevent the complete collapse of the club. Advertisement READ MORE IN FOOTBALL 'STARSTRUCK' Grealish poses with unrecognisable Prem icon and calls him his 'boyhood hero' "We as fans deserve better. "It breaks my heart to see the club I have followed all my life being held hostage by an owner who clearly has no interest or care for us. "It is clear that Chansiri does not have the ability or resources to fund and invest in Sheffield Wednesday." Wednesday have vowed to pay players and staff as soon as possible. Advertisement JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS 3 Sheffield Wednesday fans have repeatedly protested Dejphon Chansiri's ownership Credit: Getty A club statement read: "The club continue to seek a resolution regarding outstanding salaries due for the month of May at the earliest possible opportunity. "Mr Chansiri sincerely apologises to all players, coaches and staff affected and everyone connected with the club." Advertisement Former Premier League star, 39, sent off after 55 seconds for headbutting rival's BACK in EFL clash Chansiri's ten-year ownership of Wednesday has been filled with financial issues. The Yorkshire club were deducted six points in the 2021/21 season, in which they were relegated to League One, for breaching spending rules. And they were placed under registration embargoes in both the 2023/24 and 24/25 campaigns. Wednesday ended the 2024/25 Championship season in 12th place.
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Trai Hume wants Northern Ireland's young guns to set standard for squad
Hume and his Sunderland team-mate Daniel Ballard have been celebrating earning promotion to the Premier League after a dramatic play-off campaign that ended with victory over Sheffield United at Wembley. And that came at the end of a month in which Conor Bradley received his first Premier League winner's medal with Liverpool and fellow 21-year-old Justin Devenny lifted the FA Cup with Crystal Palace. Ballard, 25, and Hume, 23, will double the Premier League contingent in Michael O'Neill's squad, something that Hume believes can only help as they look ahead to their World Cup qualifying campaign that starts in September. 'I don't think there's any doubt,' Hume said. 'You're exposing yourself to the best league in the world, so you want to try your best to do well there and if you can, you're going to become a better player because of it. 'Obviously me and Dan are still young, Conor and Justin are still young, so hopefully we can have a lot of years in the Premier League and that will only benefit Northern Ireland going forward. 'I have no doubt there's other players in the squad that will get themselves into the Premier League as well. Obviously it's us four at the minute and hopefully we can try and push the lads and bring them up to the standard that we're going to set.' Northern Ireland are preparing for Saturday's friendly away to Denmark and Tuesday's match at home against Iceland, but their eyes are already on September when they begin their World Cup qualifying campaign with an away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany, with Slovakia also in Group A. Playing in high-pressure games like the Championship play-off final is valuable experience ahead of facing the likes of Germany, and Hume said: 'I think it will help us deal with the atmosphere a bit better. Obviously, the calibre of players will be a lot different. I think we will try our best to deal with that. 'I think the big games you do play in, you get used to the emotion of it and the challenge of playing in front of the crowd and not getting caught up in the emotion of the game. 'Germany is definitely going to be a lot different than Sheffield United. Like I say, we will just have to try our best to be ready and be focused for it.' Germany are obvious favourites to top the group, with Northern Ireland vying to beat Slovakia and Luxembourg to second place and the play-off spot that would bring. Ballard said they would treat their games against those two nations as cup finals. 'I think we can make a really positive start to the group,' he said. 'I think the games against Luxembourg and Slovakia are going to be really important for us. I think they will all be like cup finals. 'I feel like we have a real opportunity this year to go and put ourselves in a strong spot to qualify.'
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Referee Bobby Madley says VAR is ruining football's emotion
Madley, who takes charge of games in the EFL and is a fourth official for Premier League matches, spoke out about the technology which continues to be a source of controversy in football. He said the introduction of VAR had meant that moments like Sergio Aguero's stoppage-time winner to hand Manchester City their first Premier League title in 2012 would not be repeated. Sergio Aguero's famous Premier League-winning goal could not happen with the same emotion with VAR, according to Bobby Madley (Peter Byrne/PA) 'As a fan, hate it, hate it. Love the Championship, love League One, I'm still a fan,' the Yorkshire-born referee said. 'I love League One because you score a goal, you look at the referee… you look at the assistant, he hasn't put his flag up, it's a goal. 'And that Sergio Aguero moment that we had years ago, where the referee was blowing, nobody's flagging, they've won the league. 'You are never, ever going to see that again in football, because they'll score in that moment and what will happen is the referee will stand there, everyone will panic, they're just checking potential offside 15 seconds ago. 'It takes that emotion away from it and football is a game where there could be one moment in the game, one goal, and that's it. 'To take that emotion away, to have to wait and wait, and what feels like an eternity, as a fan, I'm not a huge fan of that experience.' Madley, who was speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival during an event on technology in sport, said football was a billion-pound business and the use of technology was inevitable. 'There's so much money in football, it's business driven. So any mistake is perceived to cost people money,' Madley said. 'And I don't think most football fans were clambering over each other to get video technology. Referee Chris Kavanagh conducts a VAR check during the Championship play-off final (Nick Potts/PA) 'The players weren't, the referees weren't, but the people who run football, they are multimillion-pound and billion-pound people, and they had issues with referees getting things wrong. 'I think we've got to the stage where people go, 'Sorry, we're ruining football with this now'. 'But we knew the monster that had been created, as referees, we knew what was coming. But I thought, so that's where we are.' Madley said the use of VAR had changed the psychology of refereeing because before, if mistakes were made, you would not know until after the game had finished. 'All of a sudden you've got to process 'I've made a wrong decision' in front of 75,000 people, in front of 100million people watching. What if I make another one?' Madley said. Bobby Madley refereed a number of Championship matches last season (Nick Potts/PA) 'You know, I can't keep making wrong decisions because sometimes the players are going to say, 'How many more?' 'If you're sent to the screen for a second time, the trust weighs a little bit and that's a dangerous place to be as a referee. 'When people stop trusting your decision-making, that can be a very dangerous place. 'That's why we have so much training with VAR and that's why we have that bar set as a clear and obvious error.' The Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the English game's referees' body, has been approached for comment.
