By Bill Heaney
Jamie Stone, Far North MP and Liberal Democrat spokesperson for sport, has called for the UK Government to consult and support smaller Scottish football clubs such as Cove Rangers who beat Dumbarton 1-0 at the weekend to secure promotion to the Championship league.
The report comes at a time when it has been revealed in West Dunbartonshire Council’s weekly list of decisions, period ending March 18, that Dumbarton FC have withdrawn an application for planning permission for a NEW STADIUM.
This would have been a “mixed use development incorporating a football stadium and associated uses (including restaurant, hospitality and function suites), commercial and tourism development, floodlit sports pitches, access, parking, and landscaping at Young’s Farm in Renton Road, Dumbarton.
The Renton Road site that was earmarked for a new stadium for struggling Dumbarton FC.
Fans will be delighted at this move since it has always been considered as “pie in the sky” and the farm site which is situated between the Dalreoch-Balloch railway line and the Renton Road – and next to the local site for travelling people and a scrapyard – is viewed as unattractive and unsuitable to accommodate any sizeable crowd of spectators and their cars.
Sons are currently staring down the barrel of relegation to the lowest league in Scottish football and the club was recently purchased by a consortium led by a Norwegian business person.
They are believed to have acquired the current stadium at Dumbarton Castle for a rock-bottom price and to have a long-term plan to sell that site to developers who have plans to build even more houses in Castle Road where the housing has grown exponentially in recent years.
The asking price of the land owned by the football club is said to be worth many £millions more than Dumbarton FC who paid for it with the aid of public money and cash from supportive local employers.
One significant snag which may have put a halt to Sons move to Dalmoak is the much talked about Golden Share, which appears to have been included in the initial legal papers for the purchase of the present stadium.
The local fans and prominent businessmen who make up the board of directors of the Community Stadium Company are currently investigating the relevance of this.
LIbDem Jamie Stone has come up with his plea to government as it implements the recommendations of the independent fan-led review of football governance.
He wants a similar review to take place in Scotland, where the LibDems who will have no candidates in West Dunbartonshire in the council elections on May 5 but will be fielding candidates in Argyll and Bute, which includes Cardross, Helensburgh and Lomond, areas where football fans have traditionally supported Dumbarton.
The UK Government has backed a fan-led review which called for the government to create a new independent regulator for English football (IREF), claiming this is necessary for the long-term financial stability of the men’s professional game.
The report makes 47 recommendations, which are summed up in 10 major points:
- The government should create a new independent regulator (IREF).
- IREF should oversee financial regulation in football.
- IREF should establish new owners’ and directors’ tests.
- A new corporate governance code should be set up.
Equality, diversity and inclusion plans should be mandatory for all clubs. - Supporters should be consulted on all key off-field decisions through a ‘shadow board’.
- Key items of club heritage should be protected by a ‘golden share’ for fans.
- There should be more support from the Premier League to the pyramid through a solidarity transfer levy, paid by Premier
- League clubs on buying players from overseas or other top-flight clubs.
- Women’s football should be treated equally and given its own review.
- Stakeholders should work to increase protection of welfare of players leaving the game.
Mr Stone commented: “For clubs further down the football pyramid they feel like they are entering into extra time. The review recommended that the Premier League clubs pay a “solidarity transfer levy” to further support the football pyramid and redistribute wealth.
The good old days at Fatal Boghead when Sons had as many as 20,000 spectators at a Scottish Cup match against Raith Rovers
“It seems that the Government will be leaving this important aspect to football authorities rather than taking control, which will come as a disappoint many teams in the Football League who will feel that it is a missed opportunity. What I seek is reassurance from the Government that clubs in the lower divisions will be better supported.
“I hope the Scottish Government now begin to listen to the pleas to conduct their own fan-led review. Scottish sport is not immune – it is also suffering because of faulty, broken structures. A fan-led review is what we need to put the fans back in charge of our beautiful game.”