Dumbarton in administration: Police ‘look into some transactions’

Police are “looking into some transactions” after Dumbarton entered administration with unsecured debts of £300,000, says managing director Ian Wright of administrators Quantuma.

Wright said on Tuesday that the Sons’ administration is the result of non-receipt of “significant” funds owed from the sale of land in 2021.

They are the second Scottish League One club after Inverness Caledonian Thistle to enter administration this season.

“I know they [police] are looking into some transactions that went on and some documentation prior to the administration,” Wright told BBC Sport Scotland.

“I don’t really know much more than that. I certainly haven’t been contacted by them or been able to be in touch with them yet.

“We haven’t started looking for anything yet. People have told us a lot of things that have been done by a lot of people. We will just wait and see and when the noise calms down we will try and establish some facts.”

Founded in 1872, Dumbarton are one of Scotland’s oldest football clubs and won the top-flight title in the late 19th Century.

Wright said “the club had no money on Friday” and as they were in arrears to certain creditors and required external cash to pay October’s wages, the directors “were left with no option other than to appoint administrators”.

Dumbarton, about 25% of which is owned by fans and about 75% by a company called Cognitive Capital Limited, run at a monthly loss and have a large loan from a lender as well as a significant bill owed to a utility provider.

However Wright said there are no plans to make any redundancies as a result of the support shown in the last 24 hours from fans.

“The club’s Trust created a ‘GoFundMe’ page and by Wednesday night it had raised enough to pay November’s wages.

“Within 24 hours of meeting the players, to be able to go back to the players and say we have the money to pay them this month was brilliant.”