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The voting saga engulfing the Scottish Professional Football League has taken an incredible turn after the league confirmed Dundee submitted a ballot paper on Friday which arrived after the club asked officials not to consider it.
Scottish clubs were asked to vote on a resolution that would abandon the season with current standings as final. The league took the unprecedented step of issuing an update on Friday evening, when all votes had not been cast. Key was the Championship element, where one more vote would determine the entire outcome. It soon emerged that Dundee’s paper was missing from the tally; a signed and dated “No” form from the club’s managing director, John Nelms, was widely circulated on Saturday.
In a letter issued to clubs on Sunday the SPFL’s chairman, Murdoch MacLennan, tried to explain this remarkable affair. “One Ladbrokes Championship club attempted to submit a voting slip, which did not reach the SPFL until late that [Friday] evening,” he said. “Earlier, at 6pm on Friday, that club had confirmed in writing to the SPFL that any attempted vote from that club should not be considered as cast. We have had a number of conversations with the chairman of that club over the weekend, in which he reiterated that his club had not yet voted on the SPFL resolution. The SPFL has proceeded on the basis of the unequivocal instruction from that club received at 6pm on Friday.”
Dundee are yet to offer their side of events, with MacLennan’s words unlikely to placate stunned observers. MacLennan insisted it is “wrong” to assert any payments to clubs, as based on league placings, can be issued “without a line being drawn under season 2019-20”.
Rangers have called for an independent investigation and the suspension of Neil Doncaster, the SPFL’s chief executive. “I am entirely satisfied, based on all the information at my disposal, that the SPFL and its executives and legal advisers have acted wholly properly at every stage in this process,” added MacLennan. Owing to a complete breakdown of trust, it is understood Rangers are unwilling to share what they believe to be key evidence with anyone other than an independent body.
Ann Budge, the Hearts owner, is also heavily critical of the SPFL board. Budge feels clubs were coerced into accepting the resolution, which would have relegated hers from the top flight. “The board has clearly discussed and considered various options,” she said. “This is exactly what we would expect of the board. However, to then dismiss all but one option and present only this option for a members’ vote, within a very limited timescale, must surely raise the question of whether the board is attempting to unduly influence the members’ decision-making process.”
Budge added that Hearts will propose temporary reconstruction of the league – namely an expanded Premiership – as was already rising on the SPFL’s agenda. “This is a major embarrassment for Scottish football, one which I believe could so easily have been avoided,” she added.
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