Sons left between a rock and a hard place

ON December 9, 1980, the front pages of newspapers brought news of the murder of John Lennon outside his New York apartment. On the back pages, a story almost as difficult to comprehend as the senseless death of a legendary Beatle dominated the headlines.

‘Sons in for Cruyff’ told the unlikely tale of a chronically underachieving Dumbarton side, languishing mid-table in Scotland’s second tier, launching an audacious bid to sign the 33-year-old Dutch superstar.

When the move failed to come off — Cruyff hadn’t realised that Scotland’s First Division was actually the second tier — Dumbarton returned to footballing obscurity. They were another struggling lower-league team unlikely to trouble the back pages again for some time.

But for the coronavirus crisis which stopped Scottish football in its tracks, that might have changed earlier this month when

Sportsmail confirmed talks between a Norwegian consortium and Dumbarton’s secretive owners over a £1.2million takeover deal.

Raising more questions than answers, it’s not immediately clear why any overseas group would want to pay that kind of sum for a club in the third rung of Scottish football. Nor whether the interest is likely to survive the biggest threat to public health — and football finances — in a generation.

More likely is the suspicion that the Scandinavian group’s interest had more to do with property speculation than it did any desire to challenge Celtic and Rangers.

The current owners of Dumbarton are an opaque St Helen’s-based shareholding group by the name of Brabco 736.

A check of the Companies House website shows that Peter Steede and Ian Wilson are the only remaining directors.

Brabco are willing to listen to offers for their 75-per-cent stake in Dumbarton FC after plans for a move to a new 4,000-capacity

Renton stadium featuring 200 new homes, a hotel, retail park, office units and community sports facilities were kicked out by West Dunbartonshire Council last year.

Wilson, their long-term representative on the football club board, claimed the £13.5m development was ‘critical’ to the club’s future and, when it collapsed, resigned.

With no Brabco representative left on the football board, current chairman John Steele has been kept in the dark over the intentions of the English-based owners.

Brabco recently approved a budget for next season, but tend to keep directors of the football club at arm’s length. Maintaining precious little input over the day-to day running of the League One side, their real interest appears to be the plot of land Dumbarton play on.

Brabco have obtained the green light from local councillors to develop five villa-style homes and 32 apartments in the car park of their current C&G Systems Stadium home, next to Dumbarton Castle.

Companies House documentation shows that security over the land is held by the club’s former owner, Neil Rankine, who formally resigned as a director in 2006, but remains a major creditor to the tune of £250,000.

The concern here is obvious. In the face of a Covid-19 pandemic, Scotland’s lower-league clubs find themselves in a precarious position. And Dumbarton are no exception.

While government grants to subsidise staff wages up to the value of £2,500 a month are a potential game-changer, the clubs best equipped to survive in the short-term are those with owners willing to write a cheque to cover any shortfalls.

A property development group primarily interested in using the car park of the C&G Systems Stadium to build flats and houses, however, Brabco might feel it suits them fine to let the club lapse into administration.

Allaying those concerns on Friday, chairman John Steele told Sportsmail : ‘I have to say that currently I am getting sympathetic noises, let’s put it that way.

‘We are not at the point yet where we need the owners to write a cheque. We will be able to limp along for a reasonable period of time.’

Even so Steele and manager Jim Duffy held emergency discussions with the players on Thursday over a 50-per-cent deferral of wages — with an announcement expected today.

‘We approached the players on Thursday evening with a proposal regarding wages during the current shutdown,’ said a Dumbarton statement yesterday.

‘The board agreed with the manager that the players could take the weekend to consider if the proposal was acceptable to each of them

‘We will respect that time that we gave them and release a further statement on Monday.’

Admitting that the co-operation of the players is ‘absolutely critical’ to Dumbarton’s survival, Steele told Sportsmail: ‘Unless we can facilitate reduced earnings for staff and creditors, then we won’t survive.’