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From Sport.Scotsman.com by Martin Hannan
CAMPAIGNERS trying to save Raith Rovers from extinction have vowed to fight on despite the withdrawal of a major backer which threatened the seven-figure deal to buy the club.
Former chairman and major shareholder Alex Penman was a crucial member of the consortium negotiating with Rovers' owner Colin McGowan of West City Developments. But the Monaco-based builder, who still has extensive business interests in Kirkcaldy, pulled out after the consortium failed to meet his terms.
Penman was set to buy Stark's Park, but the consortium could not meet his 'conditions and criteria', according to his solicitor Willie McGregor, who confirmed last night that the builder would be playing no further part in the consortium and would be making no comment on the matter.
The supporters' group which is part of the consortium, Reclaim the Rovers, last night promised that the buyout deal would be resurrected, and they received backing from a perhaps surprising source, namely McGowan.
He had previously imposed a deadline for the consortium to make him a formal offer for the club and that date was passed last week. But last night McGowan said he was 'relaxed' about the deadline issue and quipped: 'I think Alex McLeish will be away from Ibrox before West City is away from Raith Rovers.'
Since Penman's withdrawal, the would-be ownership consortium has spent the last week speaking to 'two or three' potential investors, according to one source, and once again Chancellor Gordon Brown, who is the local MP, and Kirkcaldy MSP Marilyn Livingstone have been working behind the scenes to try to secure investment in the consortium.
'While it's disappointing that Mr Penman has decided that he can't be part of the deal, it is entirely wrong to portray this as a shattering blow,' said James Proctor, spokesman for Reclaim the Rovers.
'All the investors are significant in this consortium, and he certainly was important in regard to the deal we were thinking of doing at that time.
'We know time is of the essence and it has put us back in timescale, but that is perhaps not a bad thing as we may be able to put something better together. Other realistic options are being actively explored and we are still confident that we can put together a package which will allow us to secure the long-term future of the club.
'Of course it is frustrating when things move in the wrong direction but the situation has been constantly changing over the last couple of months and this is far from the first setback we have encountered.
'No-one within the campaign is downhearted and we agreed to continue to work in the positive spirit that has so far helped the fans raise over £100,000. We have achieved so much in the last few months that we are not going to be deterred from reaching our goal.'
Penman is the second would-be investor to withdraw from buying Raith. Local businessman Jimmy Miller had also put together a private arrangement costing over £1m earlier this year, but after taking legal and financial advice, he had an 11th hour change of heart.
McGowan believes Penman's previous experience at Stark's Park - he became the target of fans' criticism as the club's fortunes waned - may have put him off returning.
'I am sure Alex's advisors pointed out to him that his situation was like someone marrying a wife they had already divorced,' said McGowan. 'If he had said to me 'what do you think' I would have said 'you need your head looked at' for trying again.'
Emphasising that he had not changed his asking price - thought to be £1.5m for ownership of the club and the Stark's Park stadium - McGowan revealed that he has not actually received a formal offer to buy his controlling interest in Raith Rovers.
'There's been a lot of dialogue and talk about an offer coming,' he said, 'but I haven't yet received one.'
McGowan remains adamant that if a deal is not done, he will submit a planning application to raze Stark's Park and build houses on the site, as the only way to regain the investment he and his associates have made at Raith Rovers.
But he encouraged the remaining members of the consortium to carry on with their plan: 'I believe everyone is trying their best and maybe there have been complications outwith people's control, but I am told there are detailed meetings coming up and things could be resolved with positive movement by some new form of consortium.
'There is not actually a closing date as such now, though we won't hang around for ever. As soon as an offer comes in that is acceptable we'll take it.'
It seems that the agony of the long-suffering fans of Raith Rovers must be prolonged a good deal further yet.
=============== Previously ===========
Chancellor Gordon Brown in bid to buy Rovers
01-Oct-2005
From the Daily Record:
GORDON IS OUR RAITH HEALER - Chancellor and pals behind bid to buy Rovers
By Mark Mcgivern
CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown is leading a consortium of celebrity investors to buy his beloved Raith Rovers.
Millionaire fans such as artist Jack Vettriano and novelist Ian Rankin have promised to help save the struggling Second Division Kirkcaldy club.
Brown also used his influence to convince Fever Pitch novelist Nick Hornby, a football fanatic, to join the consortium.
And he has persuaded pop giants Coldplay to stage a benefit concert at their ground, Stark's Park.
But it is not known if the Chancellor will be personally involved financially TheRecord can reveal that £1million of a £1.5million target for a community buy out has already been raised after a huge personal drive by Brown.
The prime-minister-in-waiting has made scores of personal phone calls and met prominent money men face to face to persuade them to part with their cash.
The Reclaim the Rovers rescue bid was launched after owner Colin McGowan said earlier this year he would sell up. He also claimed he would close the club - despite it having an all-seater 10,000-plus stadium - if no buyer could be found.
Last night, Brown said he was delighted at the consortium's progress.
He said: 'We are very lucky that we have been able to secure the backing of such high-profile supporters. We have got the ball well and truly rolling and I hope the momentum will continue to gather.'
Local MP Brown, a fan since his days at Kirkcaldy High School,has also shaken on a deal with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to play a fundraiser. He collared Martin when they were panellists at a Question Time show during the G8 meetings in July.
Coldplay's bass player, Guy Berryman, was born in Kirkcaldy and is a Rovers fan.
The Chancellor, honorary president of the Raith Rovers supporters'club, recently took son John to his first match.
He said: 'The plan is to finally restore ownership and control of Raith Rovers Football Club to local people and to put the club's destiny back in our own hands.
'It has been a lot of hard work by many people in the summer months. I hope an announcement will come soon. The supporters' groups have been absolutely brilliant in their efforts.
'I can't recall a time in more than 45 years of supporting Raith Rovers when so many people have showed so much goodwill to rescuing this great club.
'I know it can inspire the team on the pitch this season too.'
Rebus author Ian Rankin, from the nearby village of Cardenden, said he was personally approached by Brown to get involved in the consortium.
He said: 'We spoke on the phone on Thursday night and he was keeping me up to speed with the deal. Everything seems to be going very well and it will be great if he can pull it off.
'I can well recall watching Raith as a kid and my sister's husband's dad was a director of the club in the '60s.
'The club is much more than a football team and it would leave a huge void in so many lives if it had to fold.'
Rankin will put his own cash into the venture but refused to divulge the sum.
He said: 'We haven't worked out the fine details yet but I'm pleased to help..
The asking price for the club is £580,000, plus £920,000for Stark's Park.
The Reclaim the Rovers rescue bid was drawn up by Raith's former owner Alex Penman and directors Mario Caira and Turnbull Hutton.
Company secretary Eric Drysdale, also instrumental in the deal,said:'We warmly welcome the support of Gordon Brown and the people he has been able to bring into our campaign.
'It's also very important that the local supporters and business are involved.' Brown took time out during the G8 at Gleneagles to have crisis meetings in Kirkcaldy about the club.
Raith were relegated at the end of last season after a disastrous experiment with unknown foreign players involving French agent Claude Anelka.
They currently lie third in the Second Division.
STARK'S FACTS
1 THE club were formed in 1883. They moved to Stark's Park about 10 years later.
2 Unlike most other clubs, Raith have no nickname. They're simply The Rovers to Langtonians - the name for folk from Kirkcaldy.
3 Stars produced over the years include Scotland defender Willie McNaught, Rangers legend Jim Baxter, Celtic's Willie Wallace and Alex James of Arsenal
4 Early Raith players helped begin a team when they moved to London for work Arsenal FC.
5 Raith hold the British record for the most goals ever scored in a league season - 142 in 38 games in 1937-38
6 You CAN dance in the streets of Raith. But owners of the posh houses on Raith Estate close to the ground are likely to call the police!
7 The weird L-shaped stand at Stark's Park was built when Raith sold Alex James to Preston North End in 1923. They didn't pay it off until 1946.
8 Raith were once shipwrecked off the coast of Spain, en route to play a series of friendlies in the Canary Isles.
9 Raith had early fan power. Supporters' club secretary Bert Herdman was made manager soon after WWII and kept Raith in the top flight until the early 1960s.
10 Rovers' 1994 League Cup victory is the only time in their 122 years that Raith took one of the three major Scottish honours
============== Previously ===============
Rovers buy-out plans revived
29-May-2005
From Fife Today:
PLANS are afoot to re-launch the community buy-out of Raith Rovers following the collapse of the club takeover last week.
The 'Reclaim the Rovers' initiative was put on hold in March - just two weeks after its official launch - when Jimmy Miller was announced to have agreed a deal to purchase the club from directors Colin McGowan and Alex Short.
Miller, however, has pulled out of the deal at the last minute leaving the club in a state of crisis.
The Raith Trust, which set-up the 'Reclaim the Rovers' campaign, is now expected to pick up where it left off in March.
'We are looking at our options and taking stock,' said secretary James Proctor. 'There is no doubt that the timing of the Jimmy Miller announcement gave us enormous problems and time has been wasted over the last two months - through no fault of our own. But there is a base for us to start from.'
The Trust raised a five-figure sum in the short time that the fund-raising effort was active before the Miller announcement at the club AGM.
'That was done without breaking sweat,' added Mr Proctor. 'When the Miller deal was announced we had our foot on the pedal and we were just about to move into gear. Now things are back in the melting pot. We've not had a chance to talk about it yet but we would like to have something concrete to say next week.'
It appears that the Trust, will be dealing with willing sellers in McGowan and Short. The pair are desperate for a way out of the club and Mr Proctor feels that the Trust must use this to its advantage.
'There is a deal that can be done,' added Mr Proctor. 'If we can get our side sorted out then there is a chance to bring the club under community ownership. There is a manager who wants to take things forward and a commercial guy who has everything in order. But until the issue over ownership of the club and the stadium is resolved there is going to be continued uncertainty.'
Mr Proctor refused to rule out another public launch to get the 'Reclaim the Rovers' effort back up and running.
'It would be an option,' he said. 'But we have to consider whether we have anything different to say. It might just be better to get on with it and keep people up to date.'
================ Previously ================
Where do we go from here?
19-May-2005
From Fife Today:
A Club in Crisis. That sums up the plight of Raith Rovers FC this week after the proposed takeover of the Stark's Park club collapsed.
Following a fortnight of delays, Kirkcaldy businessman Jimmy Miller has pulled the plug on the deal after his lawyers advised him not to go through with it.
SportsPress understands that concerns regarding club finances have proved to be the stumbling block.
A deal appeared to have been struck in March when financial director Colin McGowan announced to stunned shareholders at the club AGM that Miller, a director at the time, had agreed to purchase Rovers.
That statement has now proved to have been somewhat premature. It is a devastating blow for the Raith support, which had been promised a new dawn under Miller following a year of turmoil that resulted in relegation to the Second Division.
McGowan, who along with fellow Glasgow-based director Alex Short had been desperate to sell his stake, will now remain in charge.
And he could now advertise the club to potential overseas investors after revealing: 'I may now look to market the club and the stadium abroad.'
That news is sure to worry fans who have just witnessed the worst season in the club's history after it allowed French investor Claude Anelka to take the reigns last summer, with disastrous consequences.
While news of the termination of the Miller buy-out comes as a surprise, it appears that the deal was on shaky ground before the season finished.
'Jimmy told me at the last game that the deal was in grave doubt,' McGowan revealed. 'His lawyers and accountants have told him not to go anywhere near football.
'We retain the controlling interest in the club and the stadium. There was nothing sinister behind this but if the fans want to start their nonsense then let them. I will not bow to public opinion.
'We have kept the club from administration over the past six years and I don't see anything different happening now.'
The collapse of the Miller takeover has left a dark cloud hanging over the club.
McGowan is hugely unpopular with the Rovers fans after he forced Claude Anelka in through the back door last summer and more recently admitted that he would be willing to sell the club's stadium, which he jointly owns, to protect his investment.
While debts have been reduced, the club finances remain a major concern with the budget at Gordon Dalziel's disposal almost certain to be the lowest in the Second Division.
Mr Miller is also the club's main sponsor although McGowan was hopeful of retaining this link.
'He remains a friend and I'm hopeful that he will continue to remain as the club's main sponsor for next season,' he said.
With Miller still avoiding the media the answer to that question remains unanswered.
Despite McGowan's comments, it is without question that the Kirkcaldy club is entering the most uncertain period of its 122-year history.
Rovers are still without a chairman and McGowan admitted that situation is likely to remain unchanged.
'It is not necessary,' he said. 'We have a fantastic board in Willie Gray and Mario Caira who are more than capable of running the club. It is a small debt-free club that only has to pay current invoices.'
