Massone's Livingston reign finally over as he sells shares for £50k

OUTGOING Livingston chairman Angelo Massone last night gave in to mounting pressure by signing over his shares to interim manager Donald McGruther for a token fee of £50,000.

The Italian's acceptance that his turbulent year-long reign is now officially over will allow the three-strong consortium of former Cowdenbeath owner Gordon McDougall, ex-Dumbarton chairman Neil Rankine and fans chief Ged Nixon to become the club's guardians without the need for the SFL to change its rules over ownership.

The SFL called for a meeting of its 30 member clubs on Thursday in a bid to alter their legislation after Massone refused to sign over his controlling stake despite debts of 1.8 million that led to administrators Mazars being appointed.

Rankine, however, finally persuaded Massone to accept the deal late yesterday afternoon following hours of talks and the incentive of the Italian doubling his money from the initial 25,000 offer that was on the table.

Rankine said: "The situation is that Mr Massone has signed over his share to Mazars and Donald McGruther.

"I don't know if the SFL will still go ahead with their rule change although I expect they will.

"The holding company that I set up, Livingston 5 Limited, has already had a bid accepted by Mr McGruther and with Massone signing on his shares, it means we can get on with things.

"We would have been sweating on the result of the SFL vote for the rule change but that does not affect us now although we still have to wait to see what the SFL decide to do.

"Livingston 5 Limited is dependent on the SFL outcome and subject to the re-negotiation with West Lothian Council.

"If everything goes to plan, Gordon McDougall will become chairman of the football club and will be in control of everything regarding the football side of things while I will be chairman of the holding company and will be in control of the business side of things

"Gordon is a better man than me for the football side of things and works night and day."

Livingston are not out of the woods yet, however, as the SFL could still mete out sanctions, which include points deduction, demotion or a fine, due to the club's poor financial health.

And the First Division side must now look to renegotiate its debts with its creditors, most notably West Lothian Council, which initiated the legal action over rent arrears of 330,000.

It's likely, however, that the local authority will be sympathetic towards Livingston's plight given they are hoping to see the club survive in the long-term.

Massone, meanwhile, who bought the club from Irish businessman Pearse Flynn for 1 last summer, insists he has no regrets about becoming involved in the club. During his tenure, the players wages were not paid on time on several occasions while the club accrued a lengthy list of creditors and unmanageable debt.

The finances were in such a poor state that McGruther started laying-off non-playing staff on Wednesday.

Massone said: "I said I wanted to save the club but now I say good luck to everyone at Livingston. I don't have any regrets about taking over Livingston, I had a fantastic experience.

"I had a fantastic relationship with the supporters up until about a week ago. Now I am going to go on holiday and relax."

Livingston goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie is confident the club is finally heading in the right direction after admitting the past week has been the worst of his career.

Speaking ahead of today's Co-op Insurance Cup first-round tie against Albion Rovers, McKenzie insists the players, for the first time in months, are now cautiously optimistic about their future following a meeting with McDougall and Nixon.

He said: "A lot of the players don't know the ins and out but it looks as though the ball is moving.

"I think this has probably been the worst week of our footballing careers, not knowing whether you are going to have a job at the end of it.

"You are talking about people's livelihoods here and they were all getting messed about. Four of the senior boys – myself, Danny Griffin, Chris Innes and Liam Fox – had a meeting with Ged Nixon and Gordon McDougall to raise points about what was happening.

"At the same time Gordon McDougall was also asking us a few things as well. It was a very positive meeting and the players are very positive about it.

"We believe it's a step in the right direction and hopefully we can push on from here. It was a very relaxed, very positive meeting. We said we want to get back into the community because when I was at Livingston last time that was something we did, we went to schools and things like that.

"We have to get back out there and hopefully the fans will come back."

Livingston head coach John Murphy knows his side must approach today's game with Rovers in the correct manner following events of this week. "We have prepared for this game all week despite events at the club," he said. "I watched Rovers recently against a Celtic XI and thought they played very well, particularly in defence where they held Celtic at bay. On the break they looked dangerous, so it is a big challenge for us."