Published: Thursday, 21st January, 2010 8:25am

Pars head for Hampden cup appeal

by Ally McRoberts

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THE £200,000-plus question for the Pars is - will the SFA admit the punishment doesn't fit the crime and overturn their Scottish Cup ban?

Chairman John Yorkston, director of football Jim Leishman, chief executive Bill Hodgins and manager Jim McIntyre are the four-man senior Pars delegation heading to Hampden Park this morning (Thursday) to discover if the club's appeal will be successful.

The Pars lodged their appeal on Monday and their case will be heard by a three-man independent panel at 10am.

Expulsion from the tournament, with a lucrative home tie against Celtic in the next round at stake, would cost Pars a fortune particularly if the match was picked for live TV.

Ahead of the appeal, the club has again apologised and Leishman said, "We are deeply embarrassed that an error such as this has led to us being disqualified from the cup, especially given the teams performance on the day.

"I would like to apologise to all our fans again and we are hoping for a fair hearing at the SFA appeal on Thursday."

Last week, a six-man emergency SFA committee decided to expel the Pars from the Scottish Cup for four breaches in the match against Stenhousemuir on 9th January.

They were: playing a suspended player, Calum Woods; submitting an inaccurate team line; altering a named substitute; and not registering two outfield under-21 players.

The club also "admitted liability in failing to acknowledge the suspension of the aforementioned player, despite receiving 26 issues of the suspension list, in addition to the normal method of notification".

Gordon Smith, chief executive of the SFA, said, "While it is unfortunate that Dunfermline Athletic will no longer be participating in the Active Nation Scottish Cup, the emergency committee were left with no alternative after it emerged the club had breached several of the cup competition rules.

"The integrity of the Active Nation Scottish Cup was paramount in the decision making process."

If the Pars appeal fails then Stenhousemuir, who were hammered 7-1 at East End Park, will face Celtic on Saturday 6th February.

Essentially, the latter three breaches occurred from the same mistake and the Pars believed it was one they had rectified to the satisfaction of all concerned, including the SFA, before the kick-off.

A club statement said, "A further issue regarding the completion of the team sheet was also ruled to be in breach of the regulations despite the problem being rectified at least 40 minutes prior to kick-off and to the satisfaction of the referee and Stenhousemuir.

"The referee also clarified the position with the SFA at the time.

"The committee counted not only the original but also the amendment as separate breaches!"

Margaret Ross, of the Pars Supporters Trust, said, "The management were clear in making an early statement that a serious mistake was made and had accepted responsibility for this.

"Every Pars supporter knew that DAFC would get punished for their errors, however we feel that the punishment is unexpectedly harsh and totally outweighs the mistakes that were made.

"Unfortunately, this is a major financial blow to DAFC and is a huge disappointment to all our fans.

"The trust will be in contact with the board of directors at the club to express our massive disappointment in their duty of care."

Stories in two national papers pointed the finger at a member of staff for the blunder but a club statement read, "Dunfermline Athletic also wish to confirm that, following stories appearing in the media, Ian Baker was not the person responsible for including Calum Woods in the squad for the cup tie against Stenhousemuir; that responsibility always lies with football management.

"Ian is a valued member of staff who manages the ticket office at Dunfermline Athletic and has no responsibility for team matters."  

The club added that, contrary to reports, he has not left his job at East End Park.