A heavy burden for this troubled club to shoulder
DAVID FARRELL’S exit from Dens Park along with Alex Rae 12 years ago is way down the Richter scale of recorded ructions at Dundee Football Club. The former assistant manager is at a loss to explain why one of his old teams remain a magnet to controversy on such a grand scale.
‘It does seem to be one of those clubs that lurches from carnage to crisis to stability — then back to carnage again,’ noted the ex-Hibs and Partick Thistle defender.
Dundee found themselves at the centre of perhaps the biggest-ever storm to hit Scottish football on Friday, placing the turbulence of two administrations and letting convicted fraudster Giovanni Di Stefano through the door into the shade.
All the ins and outs of a dramatic vote on the SPFL’s coronavirus crisis motion left Dundee out on a limb as the only club whose vote — if indeed there was one — did not count in results released by the league.
As a result, they now hold the future of Scottish clubs in their hands.
Farrell has sympathy for their predicament as he believes the latest twist to the saga of Scottish football’s response to the lockdown is a product of the SPFL stubbornly sending their member clubs down the fast lane to finding a solution. Farrell’s critically-acclaimed
book Taxi For Farrell:
Football Between The Lines told his inside stories from 28 years in the game.
If he attempted to pen a follow-up about the tumultuous events of this weekend alone, there would be enough to publish a second novel.
However, this one might get thrown out for being unrealistic. And he wouldn’t be able to resist savaging the authorities for their handling of the situation.
Farrell said: ‘Who would like to be in Dundee’s shoes right now?
‘If this gets knocked back or goes through, this will forever be remembered as the time “Dundee put us out of business” or “Dundee got us relegated” or when “Dundee saved us”.
‘But that’s not Dundee’s fault. How all the information came out about the vote was nothing short of scandalous. Dundee have been put into a horrendous position. From it being a 42-member vote, all of a sudden Dundee hold the future of Scottish football in their lap.
‘I think a lot of the situation created comes down to the pressure put on to force this through the deadline of 5pm when there were other days that could’ve been utilised.’
Farrell can fully understand Dundee voting ‘Reject’ to the motion to end the lower leagues now, crown champions and relegate clubs, and place a delay of potentially a month on the top flight following suit.
After all, sentencing themselves to another Championship year and letting city rivals United go up hits them hard by foregoing revenue from four derbies.
He can also appreciate if they were among clubs struggling to reach a conclusion when invited to vote so soon after assessing a 120-page document released on Wednesday. ‘I can understand it was sensible to put some sort of timescale on but it seems to have been very much rushed,’ said Farrell. ‘I think that’s what got Rangers’ back up. Bullying is a very strong word to use, especially in legal terms.
‘But they felt they were getting forced into making a decision which, at that time, they didn’t particularly want to make.
‘Hearts would be very similar. It’s easy if you’ve not really got a lot at stake, to put a vote in that suits you. If you’ve a lot at stake and there are a lot of things in the background, then you need to think: “Hold on a minute, why do they want this done by Friday? Are they trying to pull one on us here?”
‘I think in an ideal world if they had given everyone a week that would have allowed time to put mechanisms in place, add little things on to whatever was being proposed.
‘It doesn’t look as if we’re playing football until July anyway.’
Farrell also played for Stranraer, who would be relegated to League Two if the motion passed, Airdrie and Albion Rovers.
He struggles to see how the SPFL couldn’t bail out the neediest now, while parking but confirming the idea of completing the season.
Farrell said: ‘I’d suggest getting the money somehow to clubs in trouble, maybe by means testing, even if the SPFL needed to give out loans. Surely money can be borrowed, even against next year’s TV money? It would seem common sense and I don’t know why it couldn’t be done.’
Cab driver Farrell can only mock when he hears the dreaded phrase ‘sporting integrity’ again.
He suspects there is more chance of him picking up a fare from Lord Lucan at Parkhead Forge today than anyone in the game uttering those words with, well, integrity.
‘Let’s just be honest — every club on Friday voted on self-interest,’ Farrell insisted.
‘Celtic going for nine and ten-in-arow is clearly a major issue. If I was at Rangers, I’d be trying any possible way I could to stop it too.
‘They’ll say all the right things and say for the greater good of Scottish football. But what Rangers are going to do is for the greater good of Rangers. What Celtic are going to do is for the greater good of Celtic.
‘This sporting-integrity tag line is brought to the table as if it’s some badge of honour. It’s just a baton to beat the opposition with when you think there’s a chance you can get one up on them.
‘If you’re actually talking about sporting integrity’s basic meaning they should be saying: Let’s make sure we get this season finished — no matter when that is.’
How all the details came out about the vote nothing short of scandalous