It was a terrible day when we went into administration. But, as soon as it emerged that it was only interim administration and not liquidation as initially feared, we were already on the up. Yes, there would be a very difficult time ahead and ordinary families would be hurt as staff were made redundant.
Yes, the fans would endure a season filled with mediocrity but we hoped that the worst that could happen was relegation to the First Division. In the event, we were jammy and not only did we avoid relegation but we also went into administration with a handful of great young players. Selling Faddy has let us start the process back to normal trading and we have the added bonus of having secured our SPL place for next season already.
That does not tell the story of why everything was always going to be okay though. It is true we owed millions, though less than Dundee, but the important point was that we owed the money to John Boyle. Despite some shady rumours, John Boyle always seemed likely to write off the vast majority of the money owed to him. This gave us a fighting chance of reaching a deal with all the other creditors after raising a million pounds or so. Dundee's major creditor is HBOS, a company who, if recent articles are to be believed, are just itching for a fight with a football club. It has been suggested by some that HBOS would be willing to accept a percentage in the pound of what they are owed but this seems unlikely. Doing this would open the floodgates for every other club with an account with them to use the same administration trick. If Dundee closes and Dens Park is sold, HBOS might lose a few million but it would be nothing compared to the losses it would suffer if it had to write off money to tens of other clubs who were trying to follow Dundee's example.
Giovanni de Stefano may turn out to be a short term saviour but in all honesty he looks to have compounded Dundee's problems. There are various stories about him which may or may not be true but football clubs need the likes of Gio in the same way people need holes in the head.
Of course, whilst every sympathy goes out to the fans of Dundee, if ever a club deserved to be shut down for mismanagement it is the Dens Park side. John Boyle tried to experiment but not only did he know when to quit, he was risking his own money. The Marr brothers appear to have thrown good money after bad in an attempt to live their dream but they made the cardinal sin of flushing someone else's cash down the toilet and now the club may have to pay the ultimate price.
The administrators at Dens have already disposed of some high earners with others being retained in an attempt to raise cash in January. I sincerely hope they succeed in saving the club but in all honesty it is impossible to see how a deal could be reached which would satisfy £20m worth of creditors.
Perhaps this should serve as a reminder to Motherwell fans that no matter what you think of John Boyle, it could have been a lot worse.
Look back to April 2002 if you dare!