Moonface

Would have had Lints back at Cowden in a heartbeat. Good re-sign for Dumbarton. We missed Scott's versatility down the left last season until we got McKeown on loan from Kilmarnock in January.

Surely an "exclusive" about your night of passion with Hayden Panettiere would make a great story?!?!? Maybe one of the tabloids would pick it up and run with the story?

Spot on parsforlife - you get absolutely no credibility gain in my eyes for stealing £4,200 and then getting your parole officer (sorry, administrator) paying back £210 instead of £95 through the detail of what is filled out on our victims of crims form (sorry, I mean creditor claim form).

The Cowden BoD, having been left high and dry by their untrustworthy near neighbours who run away with the ticket money and spent it on holidays to the Swiss Alps have decided to take the only decision left to ensure the survival of the Blue Brazil. Cowden will not pay for any stewarding or security on the terracing side of the ground forthwith! GordieBoy - what goes around comes around

Was one of the all-time classic own goals not scored by a Dunfermline defender against the old Airdrie right at the end of a season to knacker up a Dunfermline promotion bid. I'm sure it was a brilliant piece of mis-cue and he absolutely burst the net with an attempted clearance?

I suspect Dunfermline may come in for quite a harsh penalty based on the fact that they have accumulated "football debts" through the season (players wages, ticket money to Aberdeen, Hamilton, Falkirk and Cowdenbeath, etc. AND THE SFA for their cut of the Scottish Cup tie). The SFL Board are likely to use this a stick to beat Dunfermline and use them as an example to other clubs. The SFL Board may also want to be seen (by HMRC) to be punishing the club 'appropriately' for the on-going and consistent payment issues. Footballing bodies are under real pressure and it would be a chance for the SFL to show HMRC that they genuinely take non-payment of taxes by member football clubs seriously. Given how close to the end of the season it is, the SFL Board won't really have a huge chance to muck about. Even if they chose to relegate Dunfermline for going into voluntary administration it will have to be decided before the play-off's as there must be some sort of knock-on impact.

Surely this won't be the last ever Pars game today? I've just noticed who Jim has booked for the HT entertainment today at East End Park after looking at the club books this week... Oh dear... that can't be a good sign! At least Michelle's outfit will compliment the occasion.

I presume (since the national press reported last week that Cowden had reported Dunfermline to the SFL) that one or both parts of the rule detailed above has not been met by the Pars. Did Dunfermline make any initial payment based on 80% of ticket sales at the point of the originally scheduled date? From previous posts, I guess you could give a yes or no to this question Cowboy?

I sincerely hope the Cowden board aren't considering this. It would be almost impossible to measure and quantify. 200 Pars fans on the gate equates to £3,000.00 total revenue (less 20% due to the HMRC for VAT would only provide Cowdenbeath with only £2,500 of income). The suggestion was that in excess of 400 tickets were sold by Dunfermline for the recent derby match at Central Park. That is money that we are legitimately due from Dunfermline, which is why we hopefully have reported the matter to the SFL. I don't think Cowdenbeath are in a position to "write off" £000's, even as a gesture of goodwill to our skint neighbours. I think the Rovers offer is a fantastic gesture. It provides Dunfermline fans with an amazing opportunity to support their team and contribute to it's survival without particular detriment to Raith Rovers income. It's easily managed in terms of the numbers and not open dispute or argument (which would be a travesty given the charitable nature of the offer in the first instance). I take my hat off to our Kirkcaldy rivals and their generosity of spirit.

That is very slightly more than the amount of pennies in the pound that will soon be on offer to Dunfermline's creditors, including Cowdenbeath. Maybe we should get in quick and start stripping out the seats from the McCathie stand in case Lloyds Banking Group has plans to refurbish the Bothwell Street branch of the Bank of Scotland with a new stand in the car park to cope with the queues of debt-ridden local businessmen out of pocket and owed money and asking for an emergency loan to cope!

Not such a bad shout Bleu. Morton have the old St Mirren stand and seating tucked in land behind one of their goals. I'm guessing if they're promoted then it will be utilised to provide additional capacity in the SPL next season. When the Pars go tits, if the ground is going to be knocked down for housing then it would be of some value to Cowden to get hold of the steel structure and other components being scrapped to make way for the new development. Could be the beginnings of a tidy wee ground for the Blue Brazil.

I hope the SFL & SFA get their act in gear and make sure that Hamilton and Cowden get THEIR money and the DAFC players get paid what they are due before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. We should remember that it's not money owed to Cowden and Accies - it's our clubs ticket money that DAFC have taken and retained. A bit like me giving a tenner to CTID and asking him to kindly hand it on to someone else that I bought goods from because he would see them first. It's not CTID's money, never will be, and if he chooses to keep it then it's... well, it's stealing! As ususal, there will be weeks of provarication and incoherent mumbling from the Scottish football authorities and by the time they get round to making any sort of decision it will be too late and pointless and clubs like Hamilton and Cowden will be left out of pocket. You can be sure that RBS won't hang around getting their hands on some or all of their £600K from the article posted above!

This whole sorry saga seems to be able to drag itself out for an eternity without coming to a head. I can't see what choice the squad have but to complain to the SFL via the Players Union if they're outstanding wages and bonuses dating back to October last year. You'd imagine the Pars would be hit by a transfer embargo (which would be a pointless punishment in all honesty), a fine would seem to be an equally pointless punishment (and hinder the club's ability to fulfil it's debts to the players and the rest of their creditors). That would leave a points deduction as the only relevant and meaningful punishment left to the SFL to dish out to Dunfermline. You could see the appropriateness of deducting some of the points won by the club that they effectively haven't been able to afford or pay for.

We should probably wait until the extent of BP's bank borrowings comes out (and who approved them!) before having a go at him. Mind you, if the details and timing of the EEP loan are even half correct then somebody at the bank should end up in jail for p!ssing our hard earned public bail-out cash down Masterton's gold-plated shunkie in the EEP boardroom.

There's a real black humour to how Masterton and Yorkston have played out this whole financial crisis with the fans and in the media. The lack of genuine information combined with a healthy dose of denial and strategically-delivered mis-information seems comparable to Comical Ali the media spokesman side-kick from Iraq or the North Korean government. Crisis? What crisis?The glorious and brave troops from EEP will continue to vanquish all Morton and Partick infidels on the victorious path to the SPL. I'm sure if you asked this Brian character to comment on the defeat by Morton, he'd tell you it was a victory for the Pars (and then ban you for asking the question!). Never mind, when it eventually comes to a head, he'll be sorted for a job as head of free speech and media openness with the Chinese authorities.

Are the players and staff due to be paid their December wages tomorrow? After 3 defeats and 1 draw in the last 4 matches, it makes you think that team moral might flagging the longer the financial crisis goes on. Not being paid in full and on time for a 3rd month in a row could further demolirise the squad and might lead to some players actively seeking a move in the January transfer window, even if the club don't want to sell. Once players decide they need to leave and move on, you never get the same from them on the pitch.

This has to be seen as very positive news for Dunfermline. Masterton has obviously convinced Bob Purvis to shove some cash into plug the hole in the short terms for a couple of seats on the BoD. My guess is that Purvis will have committed enough loan funds to Dunfermline to cover the tax bills and wages shortfall for the next few months at least. He might even have written off some of the debt due to Purvis companies for work done at EEP, etc. Expect forthcoming announcements on new and extending sponsorship deals with Purvis companies. After all these years keeping a sensibile distance (but still supporting the club financially from the outside), I'm surprised Bob Purvis has finally been tempted to flush more of that hard-earned cash of his down an EEP toilet, never to be seen again.

Rangers in the 3rd division... Hearts on their way... I've worked it out John Yorkston is a genius! The Pars go bust as well and then re-establish themselves along with Rangers and Hearts as a 'phoenix' club in the 3rd division. It's a back-door attempt to create SPL2. Relegation is the new promotion!

Stepping off the emotional bandwagon for a second and remembering that Scottish League Division One is a competitive football competition... I'd have been quite hacked off if I was a Falkirk fan and the club had agreed to Dunfermline's request (on the grounds of sporting fairness and integrity). Falkirk are not in great form right now and Dunfermline are picking up results most weeks at the moment. Taking the game on now would likely have resulted in a Dunfermline win. Surely Falkirk fans would hope to improve and have a better chance of winning the match later in the season when it's scheduled - why throw away 3 points? Being uber-brutal, if Dunfermline stay in business but are forced to reduce their squad substantially in the next transfer window then Falkirk will certainly have a better chance of victory when the game is played in April as scheduled by the SFL.

Clubs such as Stirling Albion, Clyde and a number of others have pre-empted the position Dunfermline (and other clubs before them) have reached by over-hauling their wage bill sufficiently early to avoid missing statutory tax bills and not paying other creditors bills. There's some merit in off-loading the high earners immediately (by whatever means) if it sustains the future of the club - which was the point of my post regarding the players and staff being approached to leave or take a wage cut.

I agree - but would they be offered as lucrative contracts as they currently have at Dunfermline? Probaby not. If there were a few mercenaries on the playing staff at Dunfermline that genuinely didn't give a f*ck for the team then surely you'd want them out and off the payroll right away. If those players that were left were prepared to take some form of wage cut then at least the club would have a fighting chance of staying in existance. Part of the (self-inflicted) problem for all football clubs is that the players have too much protection. If I was running a business that was on the brink and immediate redundancies, wage cuts and other employment adjustments were the only route for survival then I'd be able to take it to the staff and reach agreement (or otherwise). Try that approach at a football club and the SPFA and every other governing body will jump all over that business and kill it.

Surprised to see that no-one has suggested players and staff agreeing to a wage cut. It's the single largest running expense for your club and it would make an immediate difference to the short-term viability of the club. I fully acknowledge it's not the players fault that the club have agreed unsustainable contracts with them; however, if they aren't prepared to take a cut then the club is clearly going to be out of business and they'll be unemployed and have no income. Without being disrespectful to the Pars squad, while they have some decent players, none of them are going to be snapped up and offered more lucrative contracts elsewhere in the way that some Rangers players were being courted when that went pear-shaped.