The man who helped save Dundee FC by securing a Creditors’ Voluntary Arrangement has expressed regret that so many people have lost money in order for the Dark Blues to avoid liquidation.
On the £1 million-plus hit taken by Melville, Jackson added, “I don’t know him but he put his money in, in good faith I believe, and has received a very poor return for it.
“It is all very well (criticising) in hindsight but he physically put his money in and has lost it.
“I don’t think there was any bad will involved. I have sympathy towards him as well as every other creditor who has lost money.”
Jackson revealed that although he reached 81.6% for the CVA on the day, the thought of possible liquidation had kept him awake at night.
“My first feeling is one of relief,” he said.
“A lot of people thought I was scaremongering when I said it would be close but that was not the case.
“Indeed, I have had a few sleepless nights thinking about it. It has been draining and very, very worrying.Devastated”I would have been devastated if it hadn’t gone through. It is work and you shouldn’t get too involved but that is impossible when it is a football club.
“For the people involved with the club and the people who work here it would have been a disaster.
“I have been through the process before and came out the other side so I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t managed it this time.
“We had working in the background to make sure we got the votes we needed.
“I was even on the phone to HMRC five minutes before the meeting was due to start and we ended up starting late because my team were counting the votes.
“My colleagues didn’t join me until 15 minutes later because some votes came in at the last second.
“We genuinely didn’t know until the last seconds.
“We knew there was a willingness from the community but when a major creditor like HMRC votes against you as a matter of policy then it is always a concern.”
Jackson expects HMRC to launch an objection against the CVA, although that has yet to be confirmed.
Looking further ahead the administrator, who remains in charge of the club for the time being, wants a humble and realistic approach to the future to be adopted by those who will run it when he is away.
That will be the Dundee Football Club Supporters’ Society, who stumped up the £150,000 used for the CVA, working with the Dark Blue Business Trust, a group of local business men who are also supporters.
He is also confident an unwanted hat-trick of administrations the first in 2003 can be avoided.
“There are still worrying times ahead in terms of things which have still be resolved,” added Jackson.Aspirations”I do think the club will be run in a more practical way and will have to accept more realistic aspirations.
“I like supporter involvement because you have a hardcore support who back the club.
“The club knows they can get an attendance within certain parameters so they can budget accordingly.
“They will know what is coming in and there is no excuse for spending more than you can afford.
“They may not get the players they want in future but if they are over the budget that is the way it has to be.
“What must be remembered is that if you are financially viable you still have a club.
“You might not like it because it is not achieving what the fans want but the model works and you have to stick with it.
“Dundee are the seventh-best supported club in Scotland and in that case you have to hope they can get back to where they want to be in time.
“But it is going to be a very slow rebuild and people need to accept that.
“In the past I think the aspirations ran away with the club. People thought they were too big for division one and should be in the SPL.
“There was a frustration but this time they have to work within their means and be patient.
“From what I have seen in the limited time I have been here I think in future there will be a more realistic outlook.
“And I don’t believe it (administration) will happen a third time.”
Administrator Bryan Jackson had a good day at the office at Dens Park on Tuesday, securing an 81.6% vote in favour of accepting the CVA when 75% of the credit value was required.
Voting against were HM Revenue and Customs and ex-management team of Gordon Chisholm and Billy Dodds.
However, Jackson struck a note of humility as he reflected on those who lost their jobs or cash on the way to clearing the major hurdle towards a fresh start for Dundee.
His approach is understandable when you consider how many will be suffering financial pain after the six pence in the pound offer was accepted.
Out of a debt figure in excess of £3.84 million, there were some notable names on the 80-plus list of creditors.
Among them were (followed by amount due): Sandeman Properties Limited (the company owned by Dens Park landlord John Bennett) £925,000; HMRC £461,246; Gordon Chisholm £91,313.76; Billy Dodds £77,699.68; Dundee City Council £6000; Tayside Joint Police Board £31,535.99; Libero Consultants in Glasgow (football agency) £15,500; University of Dundee £14,000; Heart of Midlothian FC £11,597.25; St Johnstone FC £10,001.52; match programme publisher Trendell Simpson £6236.83; Celtic FC £4241.28; Scottish Water £3572.88; Scottish Gas £3376.86 and Scottish Ambulance £1827.48.
The total due to former employees, including Chisholm and Dodds, was listed at a contingent figure of £415,217.
There were outstanding loans to former benefactor Calum Melville £1,022,000; ex-chairman Bob Brannan £245,000; John Bennett (separate from the Sandeman figure) £200,000; and ex-director Ian Bodie £20,000, which will all be written off.SympathySo it was no wonder Jackson was keen to offer some words of sympathy.
“What I would say to the creditors is that we can’t undo what has happened.
“We put as much as we could put towards a dividend.
“There were no white knights and the money was supporters’ hard-earned money.
“The supporters did fantastically well with their fund-raising.
“From a CVA point of view it was an amount that I wasn’t comfortable with because in these situations you would want to offer 25p in the pound upwards.
“You can only offer what you have been given.
“It is disappointing that creditors have lost so much money, but in liquidation they would have got nothing.
“Today is not a day to gloat and jump up and down because you have to remember that creditors lost money and people lost jobs.”
Key to achieving the CVA was Jackson’s ability to list the debt attributed to Sandeman Properties as £925,000, in respect of future rent owed throughout the duration of the 32-year lease.
That enabled him to dilute the impact of the no votes on the percentage figure.
It was this figure, and the money written off by Brannan and Melville, which allowed Jackson to break through the 75% barrier he needed to begin the process of leading Dundee out of administration, which should happen by the end of the season.CalculationsExplaining the role of Bennett’s company in his calculations, the accountant revealed that a deal which saw Dens designated as only suitable for playing football was important.
“I took legal advice on each case,” he said.
“In most of them they are straightforward but that one was different.
“If we had lost the vote and the club was liquidated then the landlord would have had a large claim.
“The lease could not have been mitigated because there was an outstanding security from years ago saying that the stadium cannot be used for anything other than as a football stadium.
“If liquidation had happened then the landlord would have lost the value of the lease.
“Even though the rent is just £1 for this season it changes next year and goes up and up.
“So what we did was value the rest of the lease without any mitigation.
“There was no mitigation because the security would kick in and the landlord would not get a penny for the duration of the lease.
“It is difficult to say how crucial that was because there are four or five issues similar to that.
“We assess each claim and consult the lawyers then decide from there.
“We worked very hard professionally to do our homework.”