SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS
ON THE FLANK
IAIN MORRISON

SO, FOLLOWING the Edinburgh Rugby deal the three pro-teams are safe for five years? Sadly not. The Union still needs to make more savings and is still actively courting investors willing to shoulder the burden of running Scotland's professional outfits.

As has been widely reported Brian Simmers and David Mackay are trying to put together a syndicate of interested parties to take over Glasgow Rugby, and it seems likely that their efforts will either sink or swim this week.

Rumours emerged that the duo were looking for ten investors to part with £100,000 in the first year to give them a £1m fund, to be topped up with approximately £1.5m from the Union.

When asked midweek Simmers was cagey about the exact numbers involved, insisting that they had no fixed plans and were happy to take money from the many or the few. He did concede that the consortium is still looking for "Mr Big", one wealthy investor whose contribution would make the whole project work, but despite the shortfall he remains optimistic that an action plan will be in place by the end of October.

Instead of one investor, the whole deal actually hinges on two separate entities, one corporate and the other a high net worth individual. Both have promised to give their answer in the coming week. The financial clout of both parties taken together would be enough to see Simmers and Mackay returning to Murrayfield, as the latter confirmed late last week.

"Look at things from a glass half-full perspective; neither of them has said 'no' in any way, shape or form and both have had ample opportunity to do so," said Mackay of the two entities upon which the whole enterprise is dependent. "If they both come on board then I think we would have enough comfort to go back to Murrayfield and take a run at it."

This article was posted on 24-Sep-2006, 07:05 by Hugh Barrow.