Published: Thursday, 11th March, 2010 8:28am

Athletic's debt creeps up to £11.7 million

by Ally McRoberts

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DUNFERMLINE Athletic's debt crept up to £11.7 million last year but the money is owed to club directors and 'friendly' companies rather than the Bank of Scotland.

Ahead of the club's 89th AGM on Monday, the accounts to the end of May 2009 also showed that turnover increased from £2.35 million to £2.6 million due to a Scottish Cup run.

The wage bill was slashed by almost £600,000, staff numbers reduced by 15, and the loss for the year after tax amounted to £773,790, a huge improvement from £2.35 million in 2008.

The club's debt rose by £600,000 from 2008 but it is in the form of 'soft' loans to directors and their companies - preferable as there is no fixed repayment terms and no interest is chargeable.

The decision was taken to convert the bank loans in 2007-08 to put the club on a more stable financial footing.

In the chairman's report, John Yorkston said, "Our progress towards realigning our costs to our income following relegation in May 2007 continued throughout the season 2008-09 as our operating loss was reduced from £1.9 million to £795,000, which represented an improvement of 60 per cent on the previous year.

"Mainly as a result of reaching the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup (against Falkirk), we were able to increase our turnover by 10 per cent.

"This was despite the global recession which started to affect the advertising and gate revenues of many clubs in the autumn of 2008."

He continued, "The First Division continues to be an extremely competitive league and we are hopeful that we are starting to create a team which will allow us to challenge strongly for promotion.

"Our youth structure is going from strength to strength with one of our players (Kevin McHattie) included in the Scotland under-17 squad and we hope that many of the youth players continue to progress and appear soon in our first team squad."

The number of ground staff and players reduced from 69 in 2008 to 55 last year.

The remaining 19 club employees were made up of 10 in office and management and nine in catering and hospitality.

The wage bill dropped as a result, from £2.58 million to just over £2 million.

The club's debt was spread between two group companies (£10.9 million) and seven directors (more than £800,000) with the "ultimate parent company", Charlestown Holdings Ltd, 100 per cent owned by Gavin Masterton.

Just over £5 million is owed to Charlestown Holdings Ltd and £5.8 million to East End Park Ltd - Bill Hodgins is a director of this company.

At May 2009, more than £800,000 was also due to seven directors, including £174,000 to chairman John Yorkston and £90,000 to Gordon McDougall, who is now chairman of Cowdenbeath.

The other directors and the amounts due were: Ronnie Weymes, £47,000; Iain Jones, £55,000; Craig McWhirter, £70,000; Steve Curtis, £55,000 and Frank McConnell, £48,000.

In his report, Yorkston also said, "The new directors who joined the board last year have been a great asset to the club and we thank them all for their efforts during the last 12 months."

And he also paid tribute to the club's fans, stating, "Once again, we are extremely grateful to all of our supporters for their loyal commitment, especially during the recession, and to all our staff, sponsors and friends who continue to make Dunfermline Athletic a special club at the heart of the community."