Dumbarton to become new company to exit administration

Dumbarton's prospective new owner plans to lay an artificial surface

Dumbarton are to exit administration by becoming a new company and are hopeful of receiving the go-ahead from the Scottish Professional Football League and Scottish Football Association.

The team have been relegated to League 2 after finishing bottom of the third tier following a 15-point deduction for going into administration.

Now the club, formed in 1872, will be dissolved and replaced with Dumbarton Football Club 1872 Ltd, a new company wholly owned by Canadian businessman Mario Lapointe.

Joint administrator Quantuma has reached an agreement with the SPFL that will allow the electronics entrepreneur to take control of the club and continue with them in Scotland's fourth tier next season.

Dumbarton also need the Scottish FA to give its approval to the club's licence being passed to the new company.

The parties hope to have the relevant agreements in place before the SPFL's annual meeting on Tuesday, 24 June.

Rangers faced a similar situation in 2012, but this time the rules state that Dumbarton only require the approval of the SPFL board rather than a vote among its clubs.

One of the original founding members of the Scottish League in 1890, Dumbarton went into administration in November, when Quantuma said insolvency was the result of non-receipt of "significant" funds owed from the sale of land in 2021.

Lapointe, co-owner and technical director of electronics contract manufacturer SMT-ASSY in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, stepped in to save the club after ill health forced the collapse of a deal with Oxford-based businessman Gareth Phillips.

The Canadian told fans on X this week that he is hopeful of laying a new artificial playing surface at their stadium.

He hopes this will allow the club to stand "on its own two feet" financially as it would pay for itself through extra revenue coming in as a result of the facility being used more days every week.

Lapointe wants the club's youth and women's teams to use the stadium.