Dundee FC in crisis: club may be wound up by Christmas
The ghost of Christmas yet to come now haunts Dundee after administrator Bryan Jackson warned the Dark Blues are in real danger of going out of business.
Bryan Jackson.
Jackson sat at Dens Park on Friday and left no doubt that a buyer will need to be found within four weeks in order to stave off closure at the end of December.
After weeks where directors have hidden behind a cloak of confidentiality and claims of delicate negotiations, the accountant laid it firmly on the line.
It is a case of either cash or closure, with the club's 117th year possibly its last.
Jackson started his cost-cutting just an hour after walking through the stadium door.
Those who lost their jobs were manager Gordon Chisholm, assistant boss Billy Dodds and players Mickael Antoine-Curier, Scott Fox, Charlie Grant, Brian Kerr, Njazi Kuqi, Paul McHale, Colin McMenamin, Eric Paton and Dominic Shimmin.
Youth coach John Holt was also dismissed, as was popular kitman Neil Cosgrove.
The position of loan signings Jamie Adams (St Johnstone) and David Wittenveen (Hearts) is unclear, with both men facing the possibility of being recalled by their clubs.
Milan Musun's deal ends this weekend and he is returning to Celtic.
Barry Smith was appointed interim manager and will take the weakened team to Stirling Albion this afternoon, assisted by experienced goalkeeper Rab Douglas and defender Matt Lockwood.
But the chopping of the wage bill will only be enough to allow the club to see it through to the festive season without new money coming in.
"50-50 chance" of survival
Jackson said, "We have done cash-flow (analysis) to the best of our ability based on the squad we will be retaining and we should have enough to get us to Christmas.
"We must get money in the door before Christmas.
"That is the deadline we have set as of now. There must be money in before then."
He added, "I have given no cast-iron guarantee (to the SFL that Dundee can fulfil their fixtures) because that is impossible of course.
"We have told them verbally that our intention is to trade at least up until that point because our cash-flows indicate that we can do so."
Jackson said, "These things take time.
"If we are going to come to an agreement with creditors to try to come out of administration, if I haven't concluded receiving a fair amount of a lump sum and a commitment in four weeks then it is difficult to see a way forward because you are going to need the next four to six weeks to try and conclude the transaction.
"But I would not have taken the job on if I thought there was no chance (of survival).
"If I had to pull out a guess I would say it had a 50-50 chance."
Uncertainty over Melville cash
So just how much extra money is required to go with the staged instalments of Calum Melville's £200,000, the first £50,000 of which was freed up yesterday?
Jackson said, "That is not possible to say for a number of reasons."
Jackson said, "One is that we are going to have, unfortunately, players with substantial amounts due for the remainder of their contracts.
"Those amounts can be mitigated if they go to other clubs or get other employment so there is no way of quantifying what that debt might be at this point in time.
"There is also no way of me saying just now what kind of offer might be acceptable to the creditors of the club."
He added, "Prior to my involvement, I understand HMRC were the most pressing creditor.
"There are a few other peripheral creditors and there are those who you could call friendly creditors who are putting the money in because of where their heart is."
Asked to confirm if the latter category consists of Melville, Brannan and Dens owner and Dundee United director John Bennett, Jackson replied, "In terms of people who have put money in? Yes, it would be."
It was confirmed that Melville's cash comes with a confidentiality agreement, so Jackson could not say whether or not the money owed to the Aberdeen businessman as a creditor was a donation or a loan.
04.03am - 17.10.2010 tom in nova scotia - halifax, canada Report This
as a dundee united supporter now living in canada. Its time for dundee to only have one team.Dundee fc are a team of the past and always will be. United are the the team of the future for the city of dundee. one team can attract more suipporters.more money which means better players.
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