Cork millionaire Mr Pearse Flynn has agreed terms with the administrator of Scottish Premier League club Livingston. Now he is waiting for the club's existing shareholders to approve the deal.
Mr Flynn, who spent yesterday at the club meeting management, players, fans and officials of West Lothian Council, which owns the ground, said time was running out. "The point is that it has to happen quickly because the club has only got five players signed for next season and we need to secure the management," he said last night.
The club is facing a May 31st deadline to exit administration after which it will incur a 10-point penalty next season. However, speaking to The Irish Times last night, Mr Flynn said he was looking for a resolution well before that. He indicated that he wanted to close the deal within the next fortnight.
Under Scottish law, the proposal of Mr Flynn's Lionheart consortium has to be approved by 75 per cent of the club's creditors. It also needs the backing of the current shareholders who will have no stake in the club following the deal.
Mr Flynn is part of a four-person consortium but he is bankrolling the deal. "I am going to be the major investor; the vast bulk of it is mine," he said. However, he will not take an active role on the club board.
He said he was confident the club could be profitable within a year even if attendances, which dropped sharply after Livingston went into administration last February, remain low for the next season.
He also reported that all the club's sponsors had signed up yesterday to support Livingston for next season. "I told them I was no Irish Ambramovich, nothing like it," he said. "We will run this club with a prudent financial background." He said Livingston had been less inclined to follow the upward spiral of players' wages to buy success.
The club went into administration after the HBOS bank withdrew support and demanded repayment of its £3.5 million debt. Total debts have been put at £7.5 million.
However, Mr Flynn said a large part of that was associated with a property company connected to the club which his consortium would not be buying. "The debt on the football club is only £3.5 million, which is still huge but it can be addressed," he said. "We are going to run the business with no debt going forward."
Mr Flynn said Livingston was a uniquely attractive football proposition. It sits in the heart of a town with the fastest growing population in Scotland and one with the lowest age profile.
Its stadium was new and required no capital investment, he said.
Apart from the football side, there is a night club business and a catering and banqueting operation which are cash-generating and will bring in revenues, especially over the close season.
