Dumbarton in administration: Police ‘look into some transactions’
Police have confirmed they are investigating a report of alleged fraud linked to Scottish League One club Dumbarton, which went into administration this week.
Ian Wright, managing director of Quantuma Management, said on Tuesday the management of Sons was the result of “not receiving significant funding” from the sale of land in 2021.
They are the second Scottish League One club to enter administration this season after Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
“On Tuesday 29 October 2024 we received a report of suspected fraud at a football club in Dumbarton. Investigations are ongoing,” a Police Scotland spokesman said.
Wright told BBC Sport Scotland: “People tell us lots and lots of things that people have done.
“We haven’t started looking for anything yet. We’re just going to wait and see and when the noise calms down we’ll try to find out some facts.
“I know they (the police) are looking into some previous transactions and some documents that the government had done.
“I don’t really know any more than that. Of course they haven’t contacted me or been able to get in touch with them.”
Founded in 1872, Dumbarton Football Club is one of Scotland’s oldest football clubs and won the top flight title at the end of the 19th century.
Wright said “the club had no money on Friday” and with them in arrears with certain creditors and needing external cash to cover October wages, directors had “no choice but to appoint administrators”.
Dumbarton FC is approximately 25% owned by fans and approximately 75% owned by a company called Cognitive Capital Limited, which loses money every month, takes out large loans from lenders and owes utility providers a large sum A bill.
However, Wright, who estimates the club’s unsecured debt at £300,000, said there are no plans to make any redundancies due to the support from fans over the past 24 hours.
“The club’s trust created a ‘GoFundMe’ page and by Wednesday evening it had raised enough to cover November wages.
“It’s great to be able to go back to the players and tell them within 24 hours of meeting them that we have the money to pay them for this month.”
