THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
DAVID FERGUSON
THE Scottish Rugby Union is considering four serious bids to take over its professional sides but expects only one to be handed over in time for the start of next season.

Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, appeared at Murrayfield yesterday alongside Andy Irvine, the union president, to provide an update on the plan to release control of the three pro teams to private investors.

The SRU\'s £23million debt means it is no longer able to finance Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders and McKie has warned that one may be axed unless outside investment can be found.

The chief executive is confident there is genuine interest in the pro sides and revealed he had received notes of interest from 11 potential bidders, four of whom he considers to be serious contenders. He will begin \"means testing\" them next week and is hopeful one of the teams will be in private hands by the end of June.

McKie said the Borders had attracted the most interest with five of the 11 potential bidders targeting what has been widely perceived as the most vulnerable pro team.

McKie said: \"About 11 parties have registered interest in one form or another and from that there are about four, we think, who have the means to do this. The others don\'t, unless they have an anonymous investor we don\'t yet know of. One of the four has expressed an interest in the Borders, one in Glasgow and two have no preference.

\"Despite media speculation no-one has expressed an interest in Edinburgh specifically. Most of the interest has come from the Borders. I think in the last three or four years this has been a continuing sore, which has prompted a rearguard action to protect that team. I\'m not saying all five have been entirely credible, but the highest level of interest has been there.

\"We are still looking at the end of June [to reach agreement] and are under a lot of pressure to meet that timescale, but the would-be investors are aware of it and discussions are continuing. We are amenable to any proposal where somebody who really wants to feel he owns it and can drive it and we are, if you like, a silent partner.\"

When pushed on whether he envisaged all three teams being under new ownership by the start of next season, he admitted: \"I think the logistics of that are virtually impossible to achieve in the timescale. If we get one past the post between now and then that would be a good result, not because of scarcity of candidate but more due to the logistics of what\'s involved here. It is conceivable that more than one team might go over time, however, and the board\'s feeling is that that will be no bad thing.\"

McKie virtually ruled out the prospect of Edinburgh\'s demise, but warned the fact the Borders pipped Glasgow for the second Heineken Cup spot counted for little, as the union could enter whoever it wished into the tournaments it competes in. There is also a possibility that a third team would remain on reduced funding, as \"a development, feeder team\".

He explained: \"It is unlikely to be Edinburgh [who are axed] because of where it is, and you\'re down to Borders or Glasgow, but we have not looked closely at this in any great detail. It would be down to several factors - the cost to close, longevity of player contracts, nature of players involved, supporting staffing considerations, sponsors, possible lost revenue. There\'s a list but we have not yet evaluated them, and I\'m hoping I won\'t have to.\"

McKie also confirmed BT is expected to pull out of its sponsorship of the domestic league and cup. The chief executive revealed that no contract existed with the telecoms giant, merely verbal agreements with \"people now gone from Murrayfield\".

The chief executive was highly critical of some of the sponsorship deals carried out in the Phil Anderton era, insisting many were for paltry sums but gave sponsors massive rewards. He is bidding to streamline the sponsors from over 30 companies to just ten, but with enhanced packages. He faces a challenge and BT may be just the first to walk away. However, he stated five more sponsors had come to the table since the successful RBS Six Nations Championship, one to be announced as a new title sponsor of the autumn Test series tomorrow and another expected to replace BT.

In a wide-ranging briefing, McKie also confirmed Murrayfield would host two of Scotland\'s World Cup pool games next year - against a qualifier on Tuesday, 18 September and New Zealand, on Sunday 23 September. He also said he was winning the battle to have Scotland\'s pro games played on Friday nights next season, that a sevens team would \"in all likelihood\" compete in all eight tournaments of the IRB World Series next season, that a final decision on whether Melrose would be put forward as the new host of a world sevens tournament would be made in June and that attempts to condense the Celtic League season would continue, but would be unlikely to take effect next season.

Uncertainty over the future of the pro teams means that plans to find a new coach for Edinburgh were on hold but McKie said \"two or three coaches\" were under consideration.

This article was posted on 31-May-2006, 07:04 by Hugh Barrow.