Dunfermline will 'rectify' shortfalls in staff wages

Friday 2 November 2012

John Yorkston, the Dunfermline Athletic chairman, last night moved to allay fears over the financial health of his club despite being unable to guarantee that every member of staff has received October's wages in full.

Dunfermline are more than £8m in debt, prompting concerns over the club's future. Picture: SNS

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Alan Temple

The monthly pay was due to be made on Wednesday, but several players and coaches have not been given the full amount.

A boardroom re-shuffle is understood to be behind the delay, with Yorkston confident that new board members would join the club in the coming days. He hopes that the situation regarding wages would then settle down and will not be allowed to become a recurring theme at the Fife club this season.

Indeed, he hinted that the club's situation may improve imminently as departed board members are replaced and, although no particulars have been confirmed, they could potentially bring new investment to Fife."There have been payments made to everybody, but hand on heart I cannot say that every member of staff has received their full salary," said Yorkston. "Everyone has received some form of re-numeration, where there are shortfalls then we believe we will rectify that in the next few days."There were unforeseen circumstances last week, and certainly nothing you can budget for – with the change in the boardroom – so we would not expect anything like that to crop up."We have budgeted for next month and don't envision another delay. We have folk that we believe are prepared to join the board, and once that is confirmed we will make an announcement. That is fairly far along the line."[Today] would perhaps be a little early to confirm anything, however we are hopeful to have something sorted in the coming days which will strengthen the board."Anxiety regarding the situation at Dunfermline is understandable considering seven directors resigned from the club's board in the days leading up to the wage delay, albeit Craig McWhirter and Chris McBay have joined subsidiary company Black and White. Dunfermline are more than £8m in debt, although that is owed to both current, and now former, directors. Gavin Masterton, the retired Bank of Scotland executive, remains the club's majority shareholder through his company Charlestown Holdings, which is itself believed to be over £35m in the red, prompting concerns over what would happen to the club if its parent company becomes insolvent. "I've been chairman for 13 years and I think the first conversation I ever had was about financial meltdown," said Yorkston. "It is not new and we will survive. This was a challenging month, next month will be a challenge, December will be a great month. You just have to keep ploughing on."They can do so without fear of an automatic punishment from the Scottish Football League as a result of the wage delay. The issue will only be investigated by the league body if an official complaint were received and as yet that has not happened."Any issue such as this would have to be reported to ourselves by way of a complaint, whether by a player or another party, and it would be looked in to," said David Thomson, the SFL operations director. "There is no automatic punishment for a delay in wages."The situation at Dunfermline is not one we have officially been made aware of. In terms of potential consequences, that would have to be considered on a case by case basis."

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Dunfermline will 'rectify' shortfalls in staff wages

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