Administrators take gloves off. Motherwell face firepower

I was at Fir Park on Saturday and spent the first half wondering how on earth Dundee United were bottom of the table against an abject home side. Then Motherwell scored with their only venture into the opposition final third, which told the recent story of both clubs. United, led by the evergreen Steven Fletcher, flipped the result in the second half, Motherwell were just too poor to earn a point, even at home to the team bottom of the table.

Oddly, they do better against teams above them in the league, having beaten Hearts, Hibs, St Mirren and Livingston in a recent run of form. The only points they have dropped since early February were to Kilmarnock, Newco and that loss to United.

It will all be about Celtic tomorrow. No one has left Celtic Park on domestic duty this season with as much as a point, even when the champions have an off day, they still retain the firepower and determination to win.

With several players nursing an injury, or on the path to recovery, Ange Postecoglou will have a plan to get his squad in peak condition for the Scottish Cup semi-final, a game that has towered over the fixture list for weeks. If we don’t see Reo Hatate at some point, I doubt he will have much to contribute next week.

I had some of my most confrontational issues in business as a creditor, in dispute with an administrator. An administrator’s duties is to release money for creditors. On occasion, professional fees dwarf funds raised for creditors. Creditors’ claims are dismissed, then disputed, then reluctantly accepted, before seeing pennies in the pound left over after fees are paid. The cynical creditor could be convinced he was being played.

In completely unrelated news, when administrators Tenon went bust in 2013, I shed no tears.

Elite Sports Group Ltd’s administrator, Kroll Advisory, seem like nice chaps by comparison. However, be in no doubt, the game they engaged in yesterday is to relieve Newco of millions of pounds. They have contracts between Elite and Newco, and expensive legal advice backs up their action. They have taken the decision to use creditors’ money to fund a court case against Newco, to a value initially estimated at £9.5m.

A judge yesterday ordered Newco to open their books to Kroll Advisory, allowing the administrators to fine-tune the sum they are suing for. This was a minor detail and may result in the sum being reduced. The confirmed news is that Kroll are in play (previously in doubt); Newco made no provision for this action in their accounts.

It could take months for the fine-tuning to take place, then many months for a court date. After that, parties will wait for a written decision (more months). And, of course, appeals could add another year. I reckon 2025 or 2026 before this is over. Until then, a cloud of financial doubt will hang over the club, affecting credit worthiness and investor appetite. If they were wise (I know!), they would start to make savings in order to pay a potential liability. We wouldn’t want them hit by a sudden and unaffordable bill!

All of this is unnecessary nonsense and harks back to the indecent haste Newco showed when attempting to extricate itself from deals with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. I regretted the day Dave King left town and will celebrate if he ever returns.

Good governance never features on a league table, but the consequence of bad governance eventually shows up on the Scottish Premiership table. On one truly fabulous occasion, it even showed up on the SFL League Two table!