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Fan Owned Stirling Albion, and Dundee In Trouble


Stuart Dickson

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Stirling Albion fans were lauded for their initiative when they bought over their club in the summer of 2010.

The ‘Buy Stirling Albion’ campaign was launched in May 2009 and reached a happy conclusion when the club’s supporters’ trust took over from former chairman Peter McKenzie.

The Binos were the first SPFL club to be 100 per cent owned by fans. Sadly, there’s little community spirit associated with a club that has been paying at least one of its players just £10-a-week.

We have seen a copy of the contract for this season that flies in the face of national minimum wage legislation, but are protecting the identity of the player.

Many first-team regulars in the lower leagues are reluctant to speak out publicly in case they are branded troublemakers. Others are happy to play for pocket money for the sake of calling themselves senior footballers, even though contracts on offer by clubs are often illegal and coming under increasing scrutiny from HMRC.

Stirling Albion chairman Stuart Brown did not respond to a request for comment.

Record Sport also understands concerns have been raised this season at two full-time clubs, not in the Premiership, over the hours worked by young professionals aged under 18 and their clubs’ failures to meet the national minimum wage.

Children’s commissioner Tam Baillie said: “The fact clubs are not acting within the law is another example of their willingness to exploit the future career prospects of the children in their charge.”

 

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Greg Warwick joined Dundee as an 11-year-old and six years later they took just five minutes to tell him he’d never make it at Dens.

Full-back Greg, 18, and his dad Ross know football is a brutal business. But they were angered to discover Greg had been illegally released last summer and Dundee were failing to even pay him and his fellow apprentices national minimum wage.

Greg signed as a professional on a two-year deal in the summer of 2015 but Dundee inserted a release clause they triggered after 12 months.

That’s illegal under the terms of the SVQ Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence deal where clubs are given government grants to develop players over a strict two-year period.

Greg worked 30 hours a week and paid £80 but should have been paid £3.30 an hour, a total of £99 a week.

Worse still, his dad claims, apprentices at the club regularly worked at least an additional 15 hours on stadium chores, sometimes as many as 60 if they were on first team kit duty away from home. They were never paid for the extra hours.

Greg called in the Players’ Union and Dundee admitted they were in the wrong as managing director John Nelms reinstated the youngster with immediate effect.

However Greg found game time limited with the Under-20s and decided to leave the club in October.

He has been on trial at another senior club and started worked as a trainee scaffolder on £9 an hour.

Meanwhile, an HMRC investigation confirmed the club had been under-paying its apprentices and demanded the club award back pay, more than £650 per player, and pay the going rate.

Ross said: “It’s staggering Dundee even attempted to ride roughshod on contracts that are underwritten by public money. Nelms knew Dundee had screwed up and the only reason he reinstated Greg was to save face and a possible backlash.”

Dundee declined to comment.

 

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3 hours ago, Stuart Dickson said:

Remember

Daily record is fact

Be good or Santa wont visit

Trump is shy and retiring

Theresa May is gorgeous

Jeremy Clarkson is not  racist

 

What next will u be quoting SD....... The Bible ???

 

 

 

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