Lyndon Dykes’ move to QPR has preserved Queen of the South’s full-time status throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Queens handed Dykes his big chance in senior football after moving to Scotland from his native Australia. He then transferred over to Livingston in 2019 before completing a seven-figure switch to English Championship club QPR earlier this season.
His fee was believed to be around £2 million and the Doonhamers had sell-on clauses which saw the Scottish Championship club net a ‘significant six figure sum.’ Dykes’ Scotland call-ups were then added to the £250,000 netted from QPR for Dykes.
This has allowed the Palmerston club to continue with full-time football, the sales of Darren Brownlie and Faissal El Bakhtaoui also helping the club post profits of £81,000, up from £62,000 the year previous.
A financial review for 2019/20 confirmed the impact of Dykes’ move: “The club accounts show a profit for last year of £84,000 before tax. This is an improvement on the previous year although, for obvious reasons, this does not really compare directly with the 2018-19 season.
“We were significantly boosted shortly after the year end when Lyndon Dykes was sold to Queen’s Park Rangers by Livingston and called up to the Scotland squad.
“Clauses included in the deal when he moved to Livingston saw the club entitled to receive a significant six figure sum as a result, and this allowed us to keep the club playing full-time football behind closed doors, even before later significant government support was announced at Christmas.”
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