Yes, last night got me angrier than it should have. Having experienced the previous decade of Scottish football, I thought very few things could surprise me but late last night’s Daily Record article came as a freight train I did not see coming. While Dundee’s weakening resolve was there for everyone to see for the last couple of days, I did not expect them to fold this fast.
Some background context
Dundee’s vote did not go through by 5 pm on Friday (let’s not even go into how it could not have gone through, already tired about that discussion). Without Dundee’s ‘yes’ vote, the proposal to abort the Championship, League One and League Two and postpone the Premiership (which amounts to aborting the league should no more games be played with Celtic champions and Hearts relegated) by the SPFL falls flat. However, SPFL magically declares that Dundee’s vote has not been received yet while the club already announced that they had voted. In fact, the leaked WhatsApp chat by a Dundee employee confirms the same with the Athletic having access to the voting ballot where the club voted no.
Well, Dundee, now knowing they are the tie-breaker since their vote had not been confirmed received by the SPFL, promptly sent an email at 6 pm stating “any attempted vote from the club should not be considered as cast”. So basically, the entire decision on the future of this season of Scottish football fell on which way Dundee cast their vote.
How The Situation Unfolded
To read about the hot mess that was Friday, read our timeline of the SPFL incompetence that was shown on Friday. You can read about how things unravelled further on Saturday along with our reporting on how Neil Doncaster has been ruining the ethos of Scottish football for a decade. A complete shitshow but it was about to get so much worse. On Sunday, as the situation went even further out of hand, we concluded that there was no other way out but for SPFL to make this season null and void.
Various pundits like ex Celtic star Chris Sutton started the onslaught on Dundee and’ other selfish clubs’ as early as the morning of 11th April 2020 in his column for the Daily Record. Read his article if you would, but frankly, the entire article can be summed up in the last two sentences of his column, “A global pandemic is wiping out human lives, yet some people in the game can’t see beyond their own four walls. And all of that started to make me feel a bit sick long before the 5 pm deadline yesterday.” Sutton also tweeted out “Let’s see how much Dundee’s American owners really care about Scottish football… My @Record_Sport column on why in these unprecedented times it is selfish and inexcusable for clubs to vote against the SPFL proposal. Scottish Football needs to stick together… your thoughts??”
See the agenda being pushed? Apart from SPFL refusing to consider the ‘no’ vote from Dundee, what further angered many observers is that Page 9 of the document for voting said, “Once you have indicated your agreement with the Ordinary Resolution, you may not revoke your agreement.” However, there is no such indication regarding changing your vote if a club votes ‘no’.
Combined with pressure from pundits like Sutton and too many others to list here (and we don’t want to give them the notoriety by linking them here) and the SPFL, the signs that Dundee could crack were there. Infact, check this article by the Daily Mail (we don’t like linking to them, but this is important) where they allege that “Dundee have been offered lucrative friendlies against Scottish Premiership opposition amid suspicions that other clubs are seeking to buy their support as the row over last Friday’s bungled vote to void the Scottish season rumbles on.”
We are not using the word “buy their support” as that is a substantial charge and maybe the Daily Mail knows something we don’t. However, what we know is already in the public domain, and already things were not smelling right. The best was yet to come though. The explosive Daily Record article from last night alleged that Dundee are set to reverse their vote and say ‘yes’ to the resolution put forward by the SPFL.
*** So it begins***
Going through the Daily Record article by Keith Jackson, a close source to Dundee director John Nelms said, “John has been doing a lot of thinking over these last few days as there are parts of the proposal which he still finds difficult to accept because they are inherently unfair.
“But, at the same time, he also realises there is no easy or completely fair solution to the problems that Covid-19 has created. He is also aware that 85 per cent of the clubs have voted for these measures and some of them are in urgent need of the financial assistance which this plan would provide.
“The belief and the expectation now is that he will indeed register Dundee’s vote and that he will back the SPFL’s proposals even though he’s clearly struggling with various aspects.”
85 percent. That’s the spin that got me. Fine, say that you got a good deal for flipping your vote and I would understand. However, saying that you want to turn your vote on a created narrative is not right. Mr Nelms is not stupid and he knows that most clubs had nothing much to play for at this point in the season and all they cared about was getting the cash infusion needed to survive the next few months. The same percentage of clubs would have probably voted for the Rangers proposal to give sides interest-free loans equal to the prize money amount they would receive at the end of the season. Telling isn’t it that SPFL disqualified the Rangers proposal as well as the one put forward by the Hearts chairman Ann Budge.
Shredding The 85 Percent Argument As Dundee Reportedly Will Vote ‘Yes’
With SPFL placing one proposal on the table and putting it as the ‘take it or leave it’ option to clubs desperate for money, what did people expect to happen? Think about it, are the dots not connecting? There was a reason (yes speculation from us but logical isn’t it?) the SPFL got so proactive in ensuring that no other competitive proposals were on the table for clubs to vote on.
Thus let’s not preach about this 85 percent number, shall we? Also, yet to get reasoning from the SPFL as to why they clubbed the League One and the League Two into one entity for the voting? Did SPFL know that three clubs were likely to vote no in the League One and hence clubbed the two leagues together to dilute the power of the League One? We really need mainstream outlets investigating this instead of bleating the ’85 percent’ party line.
How do we counter this?
I wish I had a definite reply. All we can say is keep up the pressure on journalists and club officials on social media (obviously within the bounds of politeness) for starters. Ask the journalists why they are not investigating the simple questions we have raised when they can get exclusive reporting on Dundee being offered friendly matches and the scoop on the director of Dundee John Nelms now going to change his vote to ‘yes’ for the SPFL proposal. Press even proper journos you might like for answers. Demand accountability.
Also, in normal circumstances, we would have asked you to call SPFL. Still, in the current scenario, our suggestion would be to reach out to their social media platform and ask for the reasons behind their inconsistencies. Be polite (and you will probably not receive a reply) but keep a documentary trail of it anyways. If enough of our readers do it, they will need to show the records someday in a future setting where questions will legitimately be asked as to why they did not respond to the fans’ queries. There is another nuclear option on the table for clubs who would be most at a disadvantage from the SPFL passing this resolution, but let’s keep it for another day.
I wish I had a better answer, but today is not the day to give up. An injustice is happening in the middle of the pandemic, and we need to do our best in stopping it.
