The CIC, which has been backed by more than 1,000 Saints fans, had bid £1.25million for the 52 per cent stake in the club, which was put on the market more than three years ago. The directors selling their shares had originally wanted £2million although revised that price long ago. However it would seem they still weren't happy with the offer from 10000Hours.
In a statement they said: "After numerous proposals the consortium of majority shareholders in St Mirren Football Club Limited (SMFC) has decided that in the best interests of SMFC they are unable to accept the final offer from the 10000 Hours group.
"The longer this went on and with the numerous changes that were made to the proposals it appeared that most of the 10000 Hours’ major backers seemed to be having doubts about the concept. It became clear that it appeared to be becoming more difficult for the 10000 Hours board to come up with an appropriate offer which would have given confidence to the selling consortium that their proposals were sustainable.
"The consortium have always stressed and continue to stress that they will do their utmost to make sure that it is the right people who buy their shares in SMFC.
"There has been press speculation with regard to other parties’ interest in the shares and at this point the consortium would like to clarify that they have spoken to many different parties, but up until now none has come up with an appropriate offer which satisfies the consortium’s criteria.
"The consortium’s shares will continue to be available to the right person but until that happens they will continue to work with the rest of the board in the best interests of SMFC."
Clearly the consortium no longer had confidence in what the CIC was trying to do and as far as they are concerned that's the end of it. 10000Hours have yet to issue a formal response and are merely reviewing their options.
Some of the statement is rather interesting. It would seem the consortium do not think the CIC are the right people to own the club. This could be taken to mean the fans or just the people at the top of the CIC. The last line is also a belter - the board currently consists of the selling consortium, Richard Atkinson and Chris Stewart, who were behind the CIC. How are they going to work together? It'll be interesting to see if Atkinson and Stewart hang around for long - and if they have any say in the matter.
But the most interesting part is there is no other suitable bid at the moment, despite the information about US based Scottish businessman Dave Wares last week. Either no one is stumping up the required cash or those that have the money are not the right people.
So, once again, we are in a state of flux. The consortium want out but there is no one interested that has the money or meets with their approval. Will anyone ever tick both boxes?