Thetownend.com

The SFL have deducted Dundee 25 points and banned them from signing new players after going in to administration. Not sure why it is so harsh but the SFL did accuse them of (using) "their Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs tax obligations as something akin to a credit card". They also said if they're still in admin come the end of March they'll be in even deeper shit (my wording, not the SFL's).

Here's the link...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dundee/9146206.stm

The punishment will virtually relegate them.

 I've always assumed without actually knowing that Dundee were the protestant team, whilst United were the catholic team.  Their respective grounds being more or less next door.

If Dundee do go bust, then presumably some arrangement could be made to sell Dens Park and to ground share at Tannadice....maybe one of the Tartan Reds or BO could educate us on the finer points of Dundee football history.

Wish the FA were as tough to be honest. Clubs are getting away with not paying tax, and why should they?

Dundee sold Dens Park when they last went into admin in 2003...

In 2003, due to the clubs failure to sell on players as anticipated, insufficient income was raised to fund the large wage bill, under owners Peter & James Marr, resulting in a £23 m debt, they were forced to go into administration with many players such as Fabian Caballero, Craig Burley and Georgian captain Giorgi Nemsadze leaving the club in 2005. Despite this huge debt, Dundee survived by selling their stadium in 2003. In mid-2006, it was announced that financial restructuring would see the club become debt-free.

....which wasn't very successful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundee_F.C.

Listening to what the SFL Chief Exec said, was that their clubs voted in the summer for them to be tough on financial mismanagement, so they have been.

They are fucked. It's the fans who suffer though. Rules need to be tougher in the English game though

Very tough on the fans but this type of stance is needed in football. Good on 'em.

Tough penalties for administration and not paying major bills (especially HMRC, salaries, transfer fees) on time is the only way to go. Maybe harsh on the fans but I'm yet to hear any options that wouldn't be. But as I've said before I'm not convinced it is that harsh on the fans - they benefit from their team having players and playing in a league that the club can't afford so any penalties just balance the books.

I wonder how many of us would be calling for tougher penalties if we didn't have our current board.

We would probably be playing Supermarine in the league had the FL been tougher on us in the past.

Indeed, short memories.

It's nothing to do with having a short memory. Fact is clubs (including Swindon) have cheated ion the past and got away with it. That isn't right.

I just find it a bit unfair to have no sympathy for their fans. Its hardly their fault those in charge have run a sloppy ship, particularly if no accounts are available ;).

Wouldn't wish a points penalty on the fans of any proper club. But football does need to get itself back in line so expenditure doesn't dwarf income.

If the regulatory authorities were better on pre-emptive action rather than punishing clubs long after the horse has bolted, you could ensure clubs stopped using "Bank of HMRC" as some kind of unauthorised overdraft facility and avoid excessively punitive reactions like this. Not holding my breath