SRU chiefs turn down Romanov bid to buy Murrayfield stadium

VLADIMIR Romanov, the owner of Hearts football club, made an audacious bid to buy Murrayfield stadium and lease it back to the Scottish Rugby Union.

The Scotsman has learned that Mr Romanov contacted the SRU following reports that officials were considering a sale-and-lease-back scheme for the stadium, valued at around £40 million.

But even though a successful offer would have instantly wiped out the union's crippling £23 million debt, the SRU swiftly rejected the bid from the Lithuanian businessman.

Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive - who earlier this year said a sale was an option "we have to look at seriously" - told The Scotsman that the financial outlook for Scottish rugby had since improved.

"We had a tentative inquiry from Hearts and we responded by saying that we had no interest in selling our stadium and its surroundings," said Mr McKie. "As far as I'm concerned that approach is now history because we have no particular interest in leasing our stadium back from that particular inquirer.

"The sale-and-lease-back idea was an option, but Scottish rugby's finances are now being much better managed and I feel we are in a position to control our own destiny more effectively now than we may have been a year ago. That means not giving away the family jewels."

The chief executive, however, did confirm that rugby's governing body was still investigating selling off parts of the Murrayfield grounds around the stadium, and that it could open the way for a joint venture with another sport. He would not say which sport that may be.

The appeal to Mr Romanov would lie in two areas. First is the prospect of cutting Hearts' costs in renting Murrayfield for European football and increasing income from selling Tynecastle to property developers, while attracting larger crowds at the new home.

The second benefit would be derived from a long-term annual rent which, over 20 or 30 years, would return a sizeable profit on an initial investment of, perhaps, £40 million - the current value of Murrayfield Stadium, according to the SRU's 2005-6 report.

Hearts and the SRU held detailed discussions on moving in together at Murrayfield when Chris Robinson was in charge at Tynecastle and Phil Anderton was SRU chief executive, but these were resisted by angry Hearts supporters. When Mr Romanov took control he vowed to keep the club in touch with its roots.

Mr McKie continued: "We are not against the idea of developing parts of Murrayfield which we own and which are effectively dead land right now, but selling off the stadium is not an option we believe to be in our best interests.

"There has been a lot of rumour and speculation about us building houses, but that's not the only option. We have no intention whatsoever of selling off for housing development the back pitches which we use for squad training sessions and for car-parking on match days.

"But we have worked on plans at improving the use of the stadium and its surrounding land, including tying up a new concert promotion deal."

However, nothing can happen imminently, he stressed. The Executive has still to deliberate on a new flood prevention barrier for the Water of Leith, which runs behind the stadium.

Reacting to news of a potential sale, former Scotland player Ian McLauchlan said: "To be perfectly honest, I don't see a huge problem with the debt of £23 million, apart from the £1.5 million interest we have to pay back annually. But I'm glad they haven't sold the stadium to Romanov - I wouldn't sell Romanov my car. I have a lot of respect for Campbell Ogilvie at Hearts, but my own feeling is the SRU should keep Romanov at arm's length."

Scott Hastings, the former Scotland centre, said: "Personally, I think it's a wise decision not to accept Romanov's offer for the good of the game."

Last night Vladimir Romanov acknowledged the club had checked out the possibility of buying Murrayfield if its efforts to redevelop Tynecastle were thwarted.

He said: "We were thinking and talking for quite a long time about buying Murrayfield. We did make a tentative inquiry. But actually once we played that game in July with the Bosnian team we realised how uncomfortable it is, and that it did not have the right atmosphere for us, and that stopped all our thoughts about this ground."

Taken from the Scotsman