The reason for Sainsbury's withdrawl? Apparently, Tesco are the preferred bidder for the site, the only hitch being that they want to build a bigger store than we have planning permission for.
Saints chairman Stewart Gilmour said last week that two parties were in negotiations to buy Love Street, so we can assume they were Tesco and Sainsbury's. He added that the first to offer the asking price for Love Street could have it.
As it seems one of the two have offered us £13million, which should have been enough for debt clearing and stadium building, something is wrong. Either the debt is higher than was thought, or the cost of the stadium has gone up. Or, maybe, the board just fancy more money and know Tesco will supply it.
Saints need to sell Love Street to clear the debt or else the club could go out of business. It is now over a year since planning permission for a supermarket to be built on Love Street and a football stadium to be built in Ferguslie was passed.
Story source: Evening Times