THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
GARETH BLACK
THERE were the first signs last night that Edinburgh owner Bob Carruthers will let go of the professional club if the Scottish Rugby Union comes up with an acceptable offer to buy him out.

Carruthers insists he is pressing ahead with a series of financial claims against the union, his business partner in a relationship which has gone badly wrong since it was set up last year.

However, in a change of emphasis yesterday, he was also prepared to talk about the terms under which he would allow the SRU to take back control of the Edinburgh club. "Pay us back what we have put into the game and we will go," he said, in a remark that is likely to signal the beginning of the end.

Carruthers added: "I am coming to the position that it is untenable to be an independent club in Scotland. The union make all the decisions, they are the sole arbiters, they are judge and jury in every case. Unless you are 100 per cent behind the SRU and they are 100 per cent behind you, you are wasting your time. They can make life so awkward that it is untenable. I don't think there is a role for independent rugby in Scotland as things stand."

If his offer were to be accepted, it would come down to deciding how much it would take to buy him out and agreeing the technicalities of how to close down the independent club and take the playing squad back into union ownership. SRU officials have already accepted, after the collapse of relations between the two sides, that is the only way forward.

Carruthers says the consortium he headed has put £1.3million into Edinburgh, but the cash-strapped union would hope to refund much less, perhaps as little as half.

This article was posted on 2-Aug-2007, 07:11 by Hugh Barrow.