Brian Simmers and David Mackay want to safeguard pro rugby in Glasgow
Brian Simmers thinks the franchise of Edinburgh Gunners has given valuable time to his bid to do a similiar deal with Glasgow Warriors.

"It's a plus from that point of view," said the Glasgow Hawks founder, who, in partnership with former SRU chief David Mackay, has been trying to assemble a funding package for Glasgow Warriors. "It has established that the union are serious about going through with this kind of thing, because at one stage there was a feeling that Edinburgh was sacrosanct and wouldn't be touched," he told the Sunday Herald.

"Most importantly what has happened has bought us more time, as the previous timescale was hellish tight, especially with the confidentiality agreement that really prevented us from letting people know that we were interested in doing something similar for Glasgow.

"We believe we have the right framework. We've got the city council back on board because they're still in a position to go forward with their plans for rugby and athletics at the Scotstoun stadium.

"Our approach is that we need to strengthen the Warriors, particularly the marketing side of things, and develop links with schools and the wider community."

This article was posted on 17-Jul-2006, 19:19 by Hugh Barrow.