Aberdeen director faces betting charge
Skinner accused of breaching stringent rules
AN ABERDEEN director has been charged with breaking Scottish football’s strict rules over gambling — including an allegation of placing a bet against his own club.
duncan Skinner is said to have placed 589 bets — including one on Aberdeen to lose against Celtic in 2017 — between 2014 and this season.
Aberdeen did lose the game in question at Celtic Park in February but there is no suggestion match-fixing was involved.
The bets covered 1,465 games, 81 involved Aberdeen with 74 placed on the team to win and six to draw.
Skinner, who is also on the board of Sportscotland, has until January 3 to respond to the alleged breach of rule 31 in four seasons, which states: ‘No club, official, team official or other member of team staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall gamble in any way on a football match.’
A hearing date of January 11 has been set. Skinner (below) has been a non-executive director at Pittodrie since January 2015, having enjoyed a successful career in the oil and gas industry.
It is understood both Skinner and Aberdeen have been co-operative since the matter came to light, with Aberdeen conducting a review of governance at the club.
In a statement, Aberdeen said: ‘The club is obviously aware of the citation and, along with duncan, is co-operating fully with the SFA, in addition to conducting its own internal review. As this is a live case, we will not be commenting further at this point.’
earlier this year, Annan Athletic chairman Henry McClelland was fined £3,000 for placing 4,011 football bets, including 430 involving his own club.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen will discover next month whether planning permission for their proposed £50million new stadium development is to be granted by the council.
A full meeting of Aberdeen City Council will take place on January 29 when dons officials finally hope to be given the green light to start construction on a new 20,000-capacity stadium, training academy and community sports hub at Kingsford. The club asked for a delay in the decision in October, with a second pre-determination hearing to take place on January 17. dons chairman Stewart Milne said: ‘We’re very pleased that we’ll have a decision by the end of January and are quietly confident we’ll get the right outcome. ‘Our proposals fit with regional and national economic policy which aim to boost communities through investing in people, infrastructure and assets, fostering innovation and promoting inclusive growth.
‘In addition to the compelling evidence of the economic benefits to the wider city region, it’s widely recognised that when AFC performs well, there is a direct boost to the economy in terms of the feel good factor.
‘derek McInnes’ decision to remain at the club is not only a major signal of confidence in AFC but also in Aberdeen itself and, with our return to winning ways, we must now reward this success by getting on with delivering the facilities our club so badly needs.
‘To ensure continued on-the-pitch performance and for the region to capitalise on these economic benefits we must deliver Kingsford as soon as possible.’
The club’s plans for the site to the west of the city have come up against strong opposition from the ‘No Kingsford Stadium’ group. The campaigners revealed in October that they had £30,000 of funding in place to take their fight through the courts should councillors back Aberdeen’s proposals.
NKS claim the project is contrary to policies in the 2017 Aberdeen Local development Plan.