Troubling Times North of the Border

Points deductions in football are nothing new at any level. Sunday league teams often find themselves releived of points due to fielding ineligible players, while at the other end of the scale, in the professional game Portsmouth were deducted nine of their league points after going into administration, the first club in the history of the modern Premier League. The big news in Scottish football today, though, is that first division Dundee FC have had 25 points taken from underneath them, unsurprisingly leaving them bottom of the league, a whole 20 points behind their nearest rivals.

Financial problems at Dundee have been seen before, they also went into administration in 2003, while they were still plying their trade in the Scottish Premier League, they were eventually forced to sell off their stadium in 2003 to help cover their £23million debt. This time the debt is much smaller, £420,000, owed to the taxman, a creditor that is known to take no prisoners in the past.

But to take 25 points, leaving the club on -11, can be seen as somewhat of a death sentence, almost consigning the club to relegation. It happened to Luton in 2008, startinf the season on -30 points. 20 points were docked for falling foul of the FA's insolvency policy, followed by another 10 point deduction for failing to disclose details of payments to agents. They weren't totally doomed however, both Bounremouth and Rotherham started that season with -15 points and with only two relegation places from League 2 to the Conference it was highly likely that someone would survive with a very low points total. As it happened Luton did end up relegated with 26 points, had they not had that massive 30 point deduction the club would have finished ina respectable 15th place. Both Bournemouth and Rotherham stayed up, the latter would have finished in the play-offs if it weren't for starting on -15. Later in the season Darlington were also deducted 10 points for entering administration, again costing them a play-off place. The other team relegated with Luton were Chester City, whose story we will look at next.

Chester had gone into administration following their relegation from League 2 and had to await a decision from the Conference as to whether they could take their place in the division, they nervously awaited their fate as they had been in a similar situation to Boston United. The Pilgrims had entered into administration during their final game of the 2006/07 season, a winner stays up match against Wrexham. With the team losing on the pitch owner Jim Rodwell put the club into a company voluntary agreement in order that the club be deducted 10 points in the season they had already been relegated as opposed to starting life in the conference on -10. But as the club could not pay off 100% of their footballing creditors they were demoted two divisions to the Conference North, a league they are still yet to get out of.

Back in Chester the clubs situation got gradually worse, with players being sold off throughout the season. The club had their first two fixtures postponed while the conference were making decisions on their future but they were eventually allowed to start their season, the club changed ownership before they played their first match, being taken over by former chairman Stephen Vaughan. Troubles continued througout the season and it got to their point where players refused to get on the team coach for a match against Forest Green Rovers. They were once again suspended by the Conference and after a vote of member clubs they were expelled from the league, all their results expunged from the record books.

Probably the most high profile case of a club going into administration is the plight of Portsmouth. Financial problems first occured in the 2009 close season, with many of their top name players being sold off all under the shadow of a protracted takeover by Sulaiman Al Fahim. Al Fahim took control of the club at the end of August but before long found himself in financial difficulties and in October another deal was agreed for Ali Al Faraj to take control of Portsmouth. In December Portsmouth left their players unpaid, now for a second month in a row and before the end of the year the club faced a winding up petition from HMRC and things wouldn't get better in 2010.

A clause in a loan deal with Nepalese businesman Balram Chanrai meant that he would take over control of the club. It was soon known that new investment was needed and the club was once again put up for sale, only there was to be no new buyer in time and the club ended up being put into administration. The club, bottom of the Premier League, were deducted nine points and relegation was a near certainty and, come May, it was confirmed.

All of these tales will not bode well with Dundee fans and the rise and fall of Gretna FC will also be a bit too close to home. However much hope there is in the city it will take some performance from Barry Smith's men to see them survive but administrator Bryan Jackson remains hopeful that a miracle can happen both on and off the pitch, saying:

"It's made a difficult job even more difficult.

"We're not going to give up. We'll do everything we can but this really limits the options for us."

He also felt the decision was harsh, with far more points being deducted than he expected:

"I was expecting 15 points as a sanction at the very worst. I was hoping for 10."

And it may not be over for Dundee, the SFL hinting that will 'deal with the club as it sees fit' if they don't exit administration by March 31st.

It all means that a tough few months are ahead for Dundee and it will be interesting to see how they deal with the reprecussions that come with all the recent heartache.