Fraser Wishart, the PFA Scotland chief executive, has called on Scottish football's governing bodies to implement rules which will stop "reckless" owners from killing clubs.
That comes after Dunfermline Athletic have been driven into administration, and to the brink of extinction, following the ownership of majority shareholder Gavin Masterton.
The former Bank of Scotland managing director has overseen the accruement of a debt of around £8.5m, forcing administrators PKF, led by Bryan Jackson, to take over in a bid to rescue the 128-year-old Fife institution.
Part of that has involved making a number of first-team players redundant and the likes of Jordan McMillan, Joe Cardle and Andrew Barrowman were let go yesterday. Three members of the youth teams were also expected to be made redundant as the squad paid dearly for the club's financial plight.
"I think we really have to look at the governing bodies taking control of the situation and beginning to monitor the spending of football clubs," said Wishart. "They have the power just now to investigate the club's finances and we almost have to save the clubs from the current owners.
"The clubs have been here for over 100 years – Dunfermline are an old club – yet the fans, players and staff suffered because of the owners' reckless behaviour. Other than sanctioning clubs when they get into difficulties, we don't seem to be doing anything."
Wishart has been called in to provide mediation and advice at a number of clubs over the past 13 years. Dunfermline follow Dundee, Livingston, Gretna and Rangers in entering administration. It is little wonder, then, that Wishart cut such a dejected figure after he emerged from a three-hour meeting with Dunfermline players yesterday.
"It's yet another sad day for Scottish football," he said. "I first got involved in administration in the late years of the last century and in the early years of 2000, one of them being with Bryan Jackson. I don't think we've moved forward at all in terms of governance. We wait until clubs run themselves into the ground and then we sanction them."
Those players released have until Sunday to secure employment, when the deadline falls for Scottish clubs to register free agent, although it is unlikely they will be able to transfer their registration to a new club with, effectively, one working day to complete the process. That will leave those players made redundant facing four months without work.
Wishart confirmed he has contacted the Scottish Football League and Scottish Football Association regarding attaining special dispensation to extend the deadline for Dunfermline's players. However, he fears time has run out.
"I've asked the SFL and SFA if there could be special dispensation for these lads," he said. "That normally requires FIFA to give their approval, which they will do – but whether it can be done in time is another matter. If this had been done a month ago or maybe six months ago when the first warning signs were there then of course they'd have a chance to play.
"Our guys are different from other employment. They're hamstrung by the regulations so you've got to feel for the lads who've left."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article