Dunfermline's players agree to accept pay cuts

Scott Thomson, the Dunfermline captain, last night revealed that the team have agreed to take pay cuts and refused to do a deal which would have slashed the wages of young players.

The club have delayed making an official announcement until today over whether they are about to go into administration, but Thomson understands all senior staff will be staying. "We got the option of taking pay cuts across the board - and that would take into account the young players - but we said straightaway that we didn't want to touch the young boys' wages," he said. "We wanted to make sure that they were right.

He added: "Everybody has agreed to the wage structure, but we've all got different contracts. We've all got to speak to our agents and all the other people."

The chairman, John Yorkston, applauded the senior squad for their decision. "The proposal that they are accepting doesn't affect the younger boys - and if that is the case then credit to them in taking a slightly bigger cut in order to keep the young boys at their level," he said. "Knowing the boys, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

"This has been really horrendous, because I like the boys and I'm fairly close to them," Yorkston added. "I travel on the team buses and I turn up at training, and they see me in the dressing-room area during the week - although not on match days - and I have chats with them all the time. I've got a fleet of vans, and they borrow them for moving house. All these things, they come up to me and ask for - and they get."

Hearts' team bus was attacked after the Edinburgh derby, it emerged yesterday. It is thought that a number of the club's fans tried to get at the chief executive, Chris Robinson, after watching their side draw 1-1 with Hibernian at Easter Road. Even when they discovered that the Tynecastle chief was not present, the group still attacked the vehicle and terrified players and officials.

Aberdeen have asked supporters to name and shame the supporter who attacked the former Rangers player Mark Hateley on Saturday. An angry supporter, believed to be a season ticket-holder, threw a notepad at the pundit following the 1-1 draw.