Financially strapped Scottish club Livingston have been given a ray of hope after owner Angelo Massone agreed to sell his shares to new investors. His departure followed, but was not necessarily related to, a conviction at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Gordon McDougall and Neil Rankine have persuaded the Italian businessman and lawyer to accept £50,000 for his shares. Massone had earlier turned down an offer of half that amount from the club’s interim manager who had started the process of putting the club into liquidation after Massone refused to sell his shares.
Financially strapped Scottish club Livingston have been given a ray of hope after owner Angelo Massone agreed to sell his shares to new investors. His departure followed, but was not necessarily related to, a conviction at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Gordon McDougall and Neil Rankine have persuaded the Italian businessman and lawyer to accept £50,000 for his shares. Massone had earlier turned down an offer of half that amount from the club’s interim manager who had started the process of putting the club into liquidation after Massone refused to sell his shares. The interim manager, Donald McGruther, had been appointed by the Court of Session last week after West Lothian Council took action to recover a £330,000 debt. He concluded that the club was ‘hopelessly insolvent’ and said Massone must sell his shareholding to allow a full takeover that would enable the club to survive. He commented, ‘It has been the most difficult negotiations I have ever been involved in’. McGruther agreed a rescue package with former Cowdenbeath supremo Gordon McDougall and former Dumbarton boss Rankine. The pair agreed to fund the club for a year and McGruther gave the Scottish Football League sufficient guarantees to continue playing in Division One.
Massone was fined £800 and banned from driving for a year after admitting being drunk in charge of a car. He was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car in Edinburgh last November. The fiscal deputy told the court that Massone was asked to prove a specimen of breath but told the police he could not talk or understand English. At the police station he was given a sheet explaining his rights in Italian, but had thrown it away. Defence solictor Graeme Clark said his client spoke English in conversation and his understanding had improved since coming to the country [just as well, given that he was supposedly running a football club]. He had been intending to take a taxi home, but felt unwell and sat in the car with the window open to recover. Mr Clark said in mitigation that Massone was the majority shareholder of a limited company which had severe financial difficulties. Massone derived no income from the football club.
Nevertheless, Massone has described his season with Livingston as a ‘fantastic experience’. Scottish football fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that he did not rule out being involved with a Scottish football club in the future. Given the laxity of ‘fit and proper’ person tests, he could well qualify. Massone claimed that that refusing the first offer from McGruther had been part of his strategy to save the club. McDougall and Rankine are being assisted by former Livingston director Ged Nixon, who is currently head of supporters group Livi for Life. Rankine remarked, ‘I’ve never met a character like Massone. It’s been the most difficult negotiations I have ever been involved in’.