John Wood Yorkston (born 13 July 1954) is a Scottish retired businessman who was previously chairman of football club

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

Career

Business

Yorkston was the managing director of First Scottish Group, a legal services company, however in October 2012, he retired from this position. He took up a full-time post in the civil service where he gradually moved up the ranks. He then left to start up a company searching public records under the auspices of the First National Bank. First Scottish began life back in 1987 as a subsidiary of First National Bank to undertake Searches on behalf of the Bank. From 1989 onwards, this service was extended to solicitors. In 2000, a management buy-out was negotiated which resulted in the Searching company First Scottish Searching Services. He was also a director of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce from 2012 to 2014.

Football

Yorkston was prominent in footballing circles for over 20 years; he was appointed chairman of

on 11 June 1999, just after their relegation from the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

, and at various times board positions on league and association bodies in addition to his club role. He "openly criticised" the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

during the 2002 dispute between those clubs and the majority of the Scottish Premier League members regarding a new television broadcasting contract. He stepped down as chairman in November 2012, instead taking up a role on the club's charitable arm, the Pars Trust. This came some months after he had publicly supported the removal of Rangers from the SPL owing to their holding company being liquidated, only for Dunfermline (12th out of 12 teams in the 2011–12 season) to be overlooked for the vacant place in the top division, which instead went to Dundee. The following year, despite Yorkston's previous positive comments on the club's financial state, Dunfermline entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

and were deducted points, followed by the threat of liquidation later in 2013, although ultimately this was avoided.

Personal life

Yorkston is a lifelong fan of the ''Pars'' and has two sons and seven grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yorkston, John Living people 1954 births Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Dunfermline Athletic F.C. non-playing staff People from Dunfermline Scottish businesspeople