Dunfermline Athletics’s financial plight should spark a wider debate about how Scottish football clubs are financed, according to the area’s MP.
With the axe continuing to hang over the Pars due to an unpaid tax bill, Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty has been in talks with representatives of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as the East End Park club tries to steer itself clear of its ongoing difficulties.
Those negotiations have been described as “very productive”, but with Dundee, Gretna, Rangers, Livingston and Hearts having all come under the taxman’s spotlight to varying degrees of success in recent years, Docherty has called on Scottish football’s governing bodies to look at the bigger picture as moves towards league reconstruction gather pace.
“HMRC has a statutory duty to ensure that money owed to the taxpayer is received,” Mr Docherty said. “But there is a much bigger debate that has to happen, particularly in Scottish football, about the way we structure our finances, the way that clubs are set up and the way we operate going forward.
“HMRC have an important role to play … but what is really important is that the SFA, SFL and SPL actually come together and look at the long-term viability of football clubs.”
With a home game against Dumbarton on Saturday, Docherty has called on all Pars fans to get along to East End Park to give the club some much-needed income in the short-term.
“If they can’t then Pars fans should be buying a ticket anyway, going along to the club shop or making a contribution,” he added. “Nobody in Dunfermline wants this club to go down.”