The SPFL claim an independent investigation has found “no improper behaviour” from governing body staff in their handling of Dundee’s vote submission to end the Championship, League One and League Two seasons early.
Championship Dundee were the last of the 42 SPFL clubs to cast a vote on the motion, missing the 5pm “deadline” on Friday, April 10, in the end by several days before crucially voting yes. Although it transpired they had tried unsuccessfully to vote on April 10.
Clubs in the Premiership, which could end on a similar points per game basis if required, and those in Leagues One and Two had already passed the motion.
After much embarrassment for the Scottish game and speculation, which implied Dundee had been encouraged to change their vote from an initial “no” vote, and calls for an investigation from the likes of Aberdeen, Rangers and Hearts, the SPFL employed firm Deloitte to look into the matter.
They now say it had been confirmed after Dundee’s vote went missing, and, as a result, the Dens Park club said it should not be considered cast, it was discovered in an SPFL spam email folder.
In an open letter sent to clubs today, the SPFL said Deloitte had confirmed the chain of events around Dundee’s vote on April 10 was as follows: “1. An SPFL Board Meeting commenced at 17:00 on Friday 10 April 2020. At the start of the meeting 38 returns had been identified as received, and 1 further return was received during the meeting at 17:10, bringing the total number of returns to 39.
“Ladbrokes Premier: 10 returns in favour, 1 against
“Ladbrokes Championship: 7 returns in favour, 2 against
“Ladbrokes Leagues One and Two: 16 returns in favour, 3 against
“It was noted during the meeting that one vote remained outstanding from the Premiership, one from the Championship, and one from Leagues One and Two.
“2. The Board meeting concluded at around 17:15.
“3. At 17:15, (SPFL chief executive) Neil Doncaster called Dundee FC Managing Director, John Nelms, and left a message asking whether Dundee FC intended to submit a return.
“4. At 17:39, Neil Doncaster had a conversation with John Nelms and confirmed that as far as he knew, no vote had been returned from Dundee FC. John Nelms thought Dundee FC’s vote may have been returned, but would make enquiries.
“5. At 17:50, Eric Drysdale (Dundee FC Club Secretary) spoke to Iain Blair (SPFL’s Company Secretary and Director of Operations) asking whether Dundee FC’s return had been received. Iain Blair confirmed that it had not.
“6. At 18:00, a text was received by Iain Blair, from Eric Drysdale, intimating that the Dundee FC vote should not be considered as cast.
“7. At around 20:30, Ian Blair accessed the SPFL’s email quarantine system (which is a feature of the email system operated by a separate third party) at the suggestion of Rod Mackenzie and identified an unread email from Eric Drysdale that had been sent at 16:48 on 10 April 2020. Iain Blair released the quarantined email and it appeared in his SPFL email inbox at 20:55. Prior to identifying the quarantined email at around 20:30, no one from the SPFL had seen the email from Eric Drysdale.”
The open letter, from SPFL non-executive director Karyn McCluskey, added: “Deloitte’s examination of phone records, mobile communications (including texts) and email data has identified no evidence of improper behaviour by SPFL personnel concerning the submission of the Dundee FC vote.
“I hope that Scottish football will now focus on the significant issues that face our game, otherwise many clubs may not survive this period.”
