Stephen Thompson quits SPFL board in protest at Dundee United's point deduction

Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has quit the Scottish Professional Football League board in protest at the club's three-point deduction for including ineligible players against Inverness.

United were already relegated from the Premiership when they listed unregistered pair Ali Coote and Jamie Robson in their squad for the 3-2 win over Caley Thistle on Friday, but Thompson has taken a stand against the league's punishment.

A club statement read: "Chairman Stephen Thompson has resigned from his position on the SPFL board with immediate effect.

"He 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 Premiership fixture versus Inverness Caley Thistle."

United were also fined £30,000, an unspecified part of which is suspended, following an SPFL disciplinary hearing. Coote, who came off the bench in the 76th minute, and unused substitute Robson should not have featured as they had returned from loan spells after the March 31 deadline to become re-registered with their parent club.

A United statement continued: "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."

Thompson is one of three Premiership representatives on the SPFL board.

Coote had just returned from a loan spell at East Fife while Robson had played for Brechin the previous weekend, and teams are unable to register players from April 1 onwards.

An SPFL statement read: "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.

"As a result, Dundee United were severely censured, deducted three points from their points total this season and fined £30,000 (part suspended).

"The disciplinary hearing concluded that replaying the game before the end of the season was not practical."