Banks o’ Dee president Brian Winton is keen to draw a line under their points deduction and bounce back strongly.
The Spain Park side were deducted 24 points last week after fielding an unregistered player in their squad for eight games.
The same error also led to the Aberdeen outfit being thrown out of the Scottish Cup.
Following Dee’s cup exit, the Breedon Highland League conducted an investigation and found the player had been involved in league fixtures.
The division’s rules state the penalty is a three-point deduction for every breach.
Banks o’ Dee return to action against Rothes tomorrow and, off the pitch, Winton is also looking up – with the club investigating the possibility of increasing the seating capacity at Spain Park.
‘Rules are very clear’
He said: “As a club, we’ve drawn a line under the registration issue.
“Out of the eight matches there were three where the player in question could have played as a trialist if we’d known he wasn’t registered.
“There were three where he didn’t take the field of play, and then two where the real violation was, where he played as an unregistered player.
“The Highland League rules are very clear and all three things are given the same penalty.
“For me, there were three different categories of breach, but I think it’s worth clarifying that because I’ve been asked a lot of questions about it.
“The Highland League management committee had no wiggle room and had to apply what was in the rulebook.
“I spoke to George Manson, the league president, and Fraserburgh chairman Finlay Noble, I’ve got a good relationship with both of them.
“And what’s clear is there was no wiggle room, the rules were nailed down after some incidents in the past.
“Now the objective this season is to get as far up the league table as we can and try to go as far as we can in the Highland League Cup, but we’ve got a tough draw (away to Brora Rangers).
“The players and management have been very mature in their response. They understand the clerical error has been costly, but they’ve been very supportive.”
Training would help
Winton believes more could be done to help clubs and the volunteers who run them.
He added: “There’s a lot of improvements that could be made on the SFA’s extranet and I’ve highlighted that.
“I also think there should be mandatory training for secretaries. It’s a critical job in a football club, yet there’s no training.
“We also do need to recognise that the bulk of Scottish football is run by volunteers.”
Looking to the future, Banks o’ Dee are now aiming to install around 100 seats at Spain Park behind the goal at the south end of the ground.
Since their promotion to the Highland League their crowds have increased, particularly when they’ve hosted matchday hospitality.
Winton hopes the additional seating could be in place for the beginning of next season.
He said: “We’re looking to put in around 100 seats and we’ll now enter the planning phase. We’ve got somebody looking at what we can do.
“It would give us a bit more flexibility because we’re shoe-horned into an area and we need to try to maximise every square inch of capacity we have.
“Having hospitality and two committees pretty much fills our stand, so having more seats would give us more flexibility.
“Our crowd is heavily impacted if Aberdeen and Cove Rangers are at home on the same day, so Friday night football is something we’re looking at.
“The Fraserburgh game on a Friday night last month was a good example – we had about 450 with hospitality, fans through the gate and the two committees.”
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