Wednesday 11 May 2016 14:09, UK
Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has resigned from the SPFL board after his club were docked three points for fielding two ineligible players in their game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Friday.
The club has also been fined £30,000, with part of that suspended, but the points deduction will not affect their final league position as they were relegated by finishing bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
As a result of the punishment, chairman Thompson resigned from his position on the SPFL board with immediate effect.
A club statement said: "He (Thompson) has expressed his shock and anger at the severity of the sanction imposed by the SPFL in relation to a rule breach in our recent Ladbrokes Premiership fixture versus Inverness Caley Thistle.
"Whilst acknowledging the club's error and accepting a breach of rules occurred, the chairman feels the gravity of the punishment is wholly disproportionate for what was a simple honest, human error.
"We await the full written judgment after which we will consider our next action.
"Our travelling fans are the ones who have been punished the most here and the Club will examine ways to make this up to them."
Regarding the points deduction, an SPFL statement said: "At a disciplinary hearing today the SPFL board charged Dundee United for playing Jamie Robson and Alistair Coote in their Ladbrokes Premiership match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Friday, May 6."
Jamie Robson was an unused substitute in this game. Alistair Coote was listed as a substitute and entered the field of play after 76 minutes when he replaced Simon Murray, at which point the score was 3-2 to Dundee United, which was the final outcome of the match.
Dundee United pled guilty to breaches of SPFL Player Regulations 12, 14(i) and 14(ii), which breached SPFL Rules.
The breaches of Player Regulations occurred because the Club failed to apply to the SPFL to League Register the Players as required by SPFL Player Regulations 7 and 3A.
The disciplinary hearing concluded that replaying the game before the end of the season was not practical.
