The fun started in the morning, when the Paisley Daily Express published the news that if Saints didn't sell their ground to a supermarket chain, they would die. This news came thanks to a club insider and there were comments from Saints chairman Stewart Gilmour.
By the afternoon, it was on the BBC website, whilst a press release was on the official Saints website. In the evening, Reporting Scotland gave the news a fleeting mention in the sport, but full credit to Scotland Today. They carried the news as one of their top stories. This was followed by a fairly comprehensive report which involved an interview with the chairman, the reporter actually going to Love Street and also an interview with Saints legend Tony Fitzpatrick. It also had a few clips of Saints last two glories; Ian Ferguson scoring to win us the Scottish Cup in 1987, and Mark Yardley scoring to win us the first division in 2000.
However, what did we actually learn? Saints fans who have been following the story since it broke in September 2002 knew just about everything that was discussed yesterday. We need to sell to a supermarket to have enough money to build a new ground and clear the debt. The bank want their money back, and soon. There isn't any other option. It depends on Renfrewshire Council giving us permission to build a stadium in Ferguslie (not a problem seeing as they have given us first option on the land!) and to build a supermarket on Love Street (slightly more difficult). The only new information which came to light was a few of the intricacies in the relationship between Saints and Clydesdale Bank, a few more details of the debt (which totals over £2million) and the fact that two parties are interested in Love Street; a housing developer and a retail developer. The Daily Record claims today that the retail developer is Wal-Mart.
Why did this all break yesterday? It's a hell of a coincidence that the PDE ran with this article a few days after someone claimed on Black and White Army that we would get the go ahead for the deal, and a day after it was revealed when the council’s planning board would meet to discuss the applications. It could simply be that, with the decision date of April 12th looming (though some other sources claim it's still a few months away), someone from within the club decided to trot out the "Move or die" stuff again to put a bit of pressure on the council. This could backfire, as a retail developer could bid less than was expected due to our publicised desperation.
Do the council really want to be responsible for Saints going to the wall? That wouldn't look too good, and it wouldn't look too good for Clydesdale either. Chances are, the councillors who are behind Saints demise can kiss goodbye to any sort of political career in Renfrewshire, whilst Clydesdale could lose a fair bit of business from Saints fans. Saints owe the council some money, so obviously it would make sense to let us move.
Thing is, council's aren't exactly bright when it comes to football. It was thanks to one council that Airdrieonians died. And we shouldn't assume that we'll keep a professional team in Paisley just because it's a big place. Inverness didn't have a league side until the 1990s whilst East Kilbride doesn’t have one despite being just a little smaller than Paisley.
As well as the council causing a few problems, there could be some problems from some Saints fans ho still feel we can stay at Love Street and survive. Could they please explain how? The only way I can think of is to become an East Stirlingshire type team, paying the players a tenner a week and slipping down the leagues. Thing is, we wouldn’t have the fans coming in to clear the debt.
The way I see it, Saints have three options:
They could persuade the bank to let us stay at Love Street for a few more years in the hope a wealthy benefactor comes along and sorts all our problems. There's as much chance as that happening as there is of the Scottish media going a week without writing an article about Gretna.
They could sell up to a housing developer. This would sort the debt, but wouldn't leave us enough to build a new ground and we'd probably die in the end.
They could ell up to a retail developer. This would clear the debt and allow us to build a new ground.
Obviously, this is the preferred option, but we only have until the end of May to sort it out or else the bank will close us down. Just think: on 29th April 2005, exactly five years after Saints beat Raith Rovers to win the first division, Saints could be playing their last ever game at Love Street against Ross County.
That's what could happen if we don't get the planning permission soon. Let's hope the council see some sense and let us sell up to a supermarket firm as, if that happens, the bank will let us see it through.
Let's hope it happens soon so we can get the new ground sorted as quickly as possible and move into it with a stronger Saints side, ready to reclaim their rightful place in the SPL.