On Thursday, Dunfermline Athletic announced that they had been unable to pay their players and staff 100% of their monthly wages. They were in fact paid 60%, with a promise of a further 20% to come on Monday (March 5th). It was immediately reported that this was partly due to the £83,000 that Dunfermline have yet to receive from Rangers, following the Ibrox club falling into administration.
But while that is indeed part of the problem for Dunfermline, it would be inaccurate to blame Rangers entirely for Dunfermline’s financial difficulties. In 2011, the Pars announced a debt of over £9million, and in November they announced that they would be closing the North Stand of East End Park to ‘reduce costs’. Chairman John Yorkston said that closing the stand would reduce police and stewarding costs, saving the club up to £20,000. Season ticket holders would be moved to other areas of the ground for no extra charge, with the money saved going towards paying the costs of fuel for the underground heating at East End Park.
Under normal circumstances, Dunfermline would of course have already received the money for tickets from Rangers. But it should be pointed out that the money Dunfermline, and every other SPL club (including Celtic) receive from Rangers for away games is MUCH higher than what they received from the rest of the clubs in the league.
This weekend, Motherwell travel to East End Park. Following Rangers 10 point deduction after going into administration, and a victory over Hibs in a rescheduled match, Motherwell are now just 6 points behind Rangers and are enjoying a strong season under manager Stuart McCall. They can expect a strong backing from fans travelling the relatively short distance down to Fife on Saturday afternoon, where tickets are on sale for £18. But less than a month ago, when Rangers travelled to Dunfermline, away fans were charged £22. You see, it’s common practise for SPL clubs to bump up their ticket prices when Rangers come to town. These clubs know very well that Rangers will bring a larger travelling support than any other club in Scottish football, which allows them to make a bit more money than they would when a club like Motherwell come to town. They’ll even sometimes add a few pence or pounds to their food and drink, taking advantage of the larger number of fans in the away end.
That £83,000 from Rangers is the equivalent of roughly 3780 Rangers fans visiting East End Park for away games, while Motherwell fans would create about £67,900 if the same number of tickets were sold to them. That’s a difference of over £15,000. While these may seem like relatively small numbers, it is still a significant amount to the smaller teams in the SPL, and those numbers will be similar for the other clubs in the division.
So while I’m certainly not defending Rangers in this instance, it shows just how valuable the club is to the SPL. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell might like to claim that Celtic do not need Rangers in the SPL to survive or even prosper, but even he couldn’t convince anyone that Celtic would not miss the £40+ they charge Rangers fans for their two home Old Firm matches every season, as indeed would Rangers, as they charge similar prices for Celtic fans to visit Ibrox twice a season.
It is very easy for clubs in the SPL to point the finger at Rangers and blame them for all their ills. Fans will boo former players when they return as Rangers players, despite them often having moved to Glasgow for more than £1million, significant sums of money in the SPL. But in this case, Dunfermline have to look at their own business plan before pointing their fingers in the direction of Govan. It is not the fault of Rangers that Dunfermline have a debt of £9million, or that they cannot afford to have all four stands of their stadium open this season. There are myriad problems in Scottish football, with or without Rangers in administration. It’s time for the rest of the SPL to stop saying ‘A big boy did it and ran away’ and start taking responsibility for their own finances, rather than waiting for Rangers to solve them.
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“But it should be pointed out that the money Dunfermline, and every other SPL club (including Celtic) receive from Rangers for away games is MUCH higher than what they received from the rest of the clubs in the league.”
This is totally irrevelant. The bottom line is Rangers owe Dunfermline £83,000. Although this is a minor sum amidst all the other misdemeanours, HMRC will survive whether Rangers pay up or not. Dunfermline may not. Stop defending the indefensible!
The £9m debt is a red herring with regards recent events. The debt was built up around 10 years ago and is owed to directors, and has no repayment terms.
It has taken DAFC a number of years to adjust from that period of over-spending, made more difficult by the Scottish Football recession and later the global recession.
We’re still not breaking even but we’re on course.
The failure to pay wages is an issue of cash-flow and not related to debt. In years gone by, DAFC might have just dipped into its overdraft to cover the wages but this is not possible in the current climate.
Like any business DAFC sets budgets for the year and tries to balance expenditure with expected income. So the income from old firm visits is part of the budget. It’s not much different to a business budgeting a boost in income around Christmas.
If that boost doesn’t transpire, or if other unforseen spending is required, the business has a shortfall to address.
Attendances have been lower than budgeted. Partly home fans, but partly away fans. First match v Hibs was only 4000 when 6000 was expected.
We also had £20k worth of storm damage to repair and £50k loss from the unnecessary cancellation of the Kilmarnock game.
Factor in that we’d already started to cut back (closing a stand) to cope with the reduced attendances and easy to see why these three other events have led us to this point, with Rangers being the most-significant.
It’s pretty galling, that it was ticket money for tickets sold on DAFC’s behalf; it was never really Rangers money in the first place.
As for the do-we-need-the-old-firm debate – last season we had large attendances in games against Falkirk and Raith Rovers. Most DAFC fans would happily swap the old firm for Falkirk and Raith.
If Rangers disappeared altogether, or had to restart in Division 3, the TV deal would be reduced. If Rangers AND Celtic left the SPL (for whatever reason), the TV money would be dramatically reduced, if there was a TV deal at all.
Regardless of what you think about the Old Firm, if they didn’t exist, Scottish football would be even worse off, most clubs would have to go part-time.