| That’s when bidding for the majority shareholding formerly held by Peter and Jimmy Marr ends and, in the absence of any surprise late offers, it will leave the present board the only viable option to take on the running of the club.
As revealed by the Tele almost a week ago, the 92% shareholding that is under the control of Glasgow-based accountants Kroll, receivers for former Marr company P&J Taverns, has been made available.
Interested parties, though, only have until Thursday to put together a package showing they can not only pay for the shares but that they would be capable of managing a seven-figure debt.
That leaves chairman Bob Brannan and his board in pole position and they remain both the most likely and preferred option of bankers HBOS.
They also have the full backing of fans’ trust Dee 4 Life, who have been involved in the formulating of the financial restructuring the chairman has been working on for the best part of a year now and which has been given the thumbs up by the bank.
One issue to be resolved would be the ownership of the shares, but that could be done by a sale to the directors for a token amount and on condition they would not be moved on for personal profit.
Other than to reiterate a great deal of hard work had gone into the new financial plan, today chief executive Dave MacKinnon was not being drawn on likely developments over the next few weeks, but within Dens it is hoped everything will be in place before the end of the season.
Equally, the club were not commenting on one of the more predictable developments in the ownership saga — the news that former director Giovanni di Stefano has claimed he is set to bid for control.
The controversial Italian businessman agreed to buy the club in 1999, but failed to come up with the necessary funds and was a director for a brief period in 2003, but again promises were not backed up with cash as Dundee plunged towards administration.
Now he has said he will be speaking to the receivers, but he is not considered a serious contender.
On the pitch, Scott Robertson’s season is over after the draw at Queen of the South on Saturday saw him suffer a broken bone for the second game running.
Against Gretna he broke his nose, now he has fractured a bone in his foot and won’t be involved again this term.
Despite that and losing a last- minute equaliser, boss Alex Rae saw positives from the draw.
“We should have won and to let them out of jail late on was disappointing. However, I was happy to see my strikers both score and, on top of his goal, I was pleased with the way Dyron Daal led the line,” said Alex. |
