SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Writs fly, but peace may be in sight as McKie and Carruthers play out the end game
IAIN MORRISON
THE good news is that both sides see an imminent end to the hostilities in the bitter civil war that has reduced the Scottish rugby to ... well, you can probably fill in your own expletive here.

Against that piece of good news come two pieces of bad news. The first is that the SRU received two writs fron Bob Carruthers yesterday, one for £500,000 and the other for £8m (although Carruthers says they are simply there as an insurance policy against the exit talks falling through). The second, and this will surprise few people, is that both parties claim it is up to the other to make the final initiative.

Both Gordon McKie and Carruthers indicated that an agreement could be reached as early as tomorrow but, if the last few weeks are anything to go by, the finale is unlikely to be quick or pain free.

As has been widely reported, Carruthers has offered to walk away from Edinburgh Rugby if the Union will pay him back the money that he has invested. One source, and it wasn't Carruthers, suggested that Murrayfield has already offered the Edinburgh consortium £600,000 to do just that. Carruthers is holding out for more but at "less than a million", not that much more. McKie suggested that Carruthers must have rolled some concert losses into his final demand.

Whatever the truth, and that has been an elusive animal throughout this whole argument, the two sides are not a million miles apart on the money. However, that may be the easy part of the transaction. Exactly how Edinburgh Rugby is transferred back to Union control is proving highly contentious. Few people know more than McKie about winding up a company and that is precisely what he wants Carruthers to do to Edinburgh Rugby. The advantages to the SRU are immediate and obvious.

Some form of insolvency would render null and void all of Edinburgh's existing contracts with players and coaches, sponsors and suppliers. This would allow Murrrayfield the scope to negotiate with those players they want and ignore those that they don't.

To take an obvious example, the SRU will be keen to tie down Mike Blair, Ally Hogg and a host of other Scottish players. Against that they may be less enthusiastic to stump up the king's ransom that Edinburgh have agreed to pay Steve Larkham. The chances of the Wallaby No.10 playing in Scotland next season are now receding fast.

After a self-imposed media blackout, the SRU's chief executive broke cover last week to explain his reasoning. "Given the state of our finances it is not in the best interests of Scottish rugby to pay Edinburgh's creditors," said McKie. "We don't even know what liabilities are inside Edinburgh Rugby and we have spent a lot of time and effort trying to find out in recent days."

When asked about any other small business creditors of Edinburgh Rugby that might be outstanding, McKie denied absolutely any responsibility the SRU might have as the governing body to honour these contracts.

"The whole things could be wound up very quickly," he continued, "and we are willing to work right through the weekend if that is what is needed. But what we are looking for is a proposal on how Bob Carruthers can leave without being saddled with liquidation and that is a complex business."

McKie was at pains to point out that the SRU did not want its day in court given that "some of the figures being bandied about are pretty scary".

He also explained, in less than convincing fashion, why he had refused the offer of arbitration that Carruthers has consistently offered. "Arbitration is a legally binding agreement," said the Union boss. "Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you. Moreover we looked at Bob Carruthers and asked ourselves if we wanted to work in partnership with him in the future."

The rhetorical question goes unanswered.

Did McKie feel any personal responsibility for what had happened to Scottish rugby over the past nine months?

"I feel very responsible for the state that Scottish rugby is in at the present time, for the feeling that the game is somehow in complete disarray because that is simply not true.

"There are a lot of good things going on. I still think that we have made a lot of progress over the last year." McKie went on to explain why he has no regrets about signing with Carruthers in the first place ("it was the right deal at the time"), how he has been portrayed as the bad guy ("for following the express wishes of the board") and to deny allegations that the last few months of mud-slinging would scare away other investors ("I disagree with that").

Unsurprisingly Carruthers takes the opposite opinion.

"I just don't know how a partnership with the Union would work for anyone", he said last week. "You have no rights, the Union are the sole arbiter. They are judge, jury and court of appeal."

It's difficult not to concede that he has a point. Right now, Carruthers' club is in the dock and McKie is reaching for the black cap.

This article was posted on 5-Aug-2007, 07:30 by Hugh Barrow.