Hearts in administration: Foundation of Hearts consider partnership with Gordon McKie consortium

Former Scottish Rugby Union chief executive McKie admitted on Friday that his group of Hearts-supporting businessmen could not fund a takeover alone.

The Foundation of Hearts confirmed McKie's proposal was welcomed and is one of the two options they referred to 24 hours earlier, which both involve supporter investment in partnership with business.

But the network of fans groups added in a statement: "At this time, the Foundation is set to choose the alternative funding option but wishes to maintain a strong, positive relationship with Mr McKie's group, given it and his own personal expertise."

Meanwhile the group reported a 15 per cent increase in fans converting their pledges into direct debits in the 24 hours since the launch of their "final push" - a number which sends them towards the 5,000 mark.

Foundation of Hearts chairman Ian Murray MP said: "The board of Foundation of Hearts will consider the best option for Hearts, nothing else, ahead of next week's deadline.

"We welcome Gordon's honesty that his own consortium is not in a position to go it alone and thank him for putting a proposal to us. They have been forthright and professional all through the process.

"Our bid will combine capital funding support alongside the fantastic efforts of supporters in setting up thousands of direct debits to the Foundation to provide a stable ongoing financial platform."

Pars United, the network of Dunfermline fans groups, has announced it has been named preferred bidder for the club.

The group was competing with one other anonymous party for control of the club and stadium.

Pars United revealed the news on its official Twitter account.

The group wrote: "We are delighted to announce we have been named preferred bidder by the administrators. Still a lot of work to do."

Administrators BDO soon confirmed the fans' alliance had attained preferred bidder status for both the club and the stadium, which was placed under separate ownership and is being controlled by another administrators, KPMG.

BDO's Bryan Jackson said: "I am glad that we are now able to announce a preferred bidder for DAFC.

"This means that we can now move the process forward with Pars United, who have worked hard over the last few weeks and are now in the driving seat regarding the club.

"We will work closely with them as we present their bid to the creditors and, hopefully, win their backing to push for a CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement) within the next few weeks."

KPMG also confirmed that Pars United had been named preferred bidder for East End Park.

Joint administrator Blair Nimmo said: "Today marks a significant milestone in the search for new owners of both Dunfermline Football Club and East End Park.

"We will now be focusing on the detail of the deal and look forward to working with all parties in the weeks ahead."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk