Massone bid for Hearts could fail under 'fit and proper person' guidelines

Ex-Livingston chairman Angelo Massone may fall foul of Scottish FA guidelines if his consortium is successful in taking over Hearts.

Massone’s Five Stars Football company submitted a bid on Friday, believed to be worth £4m, to buy the Edinburgh club out of administration.

The offer is competing with American-backed HMFC Ltd and the united fans groups, Foundation of Hearts, to gain preferred bidder status.

However the 42-year-old Italian lawyer’s attempts to take control at Tynecastle will face scrutiny under the SFA articles of association, which bar any person who has been a director of a club that has suffered an “insolvency event” from being involved with another member club for five years.

Massone was at the helm of Livingston when the Court of Session appointed interim management in July 2009 and could therefore fail the SFA’s criteria under article 10.2(j).

The rule defines someone who “has been a director of a club in membership of any National Association within the five-year period preceding such club having undergone an insolvency event” as not being a fit and proper person.

The appointment of interim management by a court is included in the glossary of “insolvency events” in the articles.

The regulations used to only cover office bearers as named on the annual official return forms by clubs.

However the rules were tightened last year to include associates of clubs. As the sole director of Five Stars Football, Massone could be deemed as an associate of Hearts if the company was able to take control of the shares.

Massone denied he would encounter any problems however and told STV he did not want to be a director at Hearts.

He added that he did not believe an insolvency event had occurred during his time at Livingston.

Massone said: “I don't want be a director in any club in Scotland.

“In any case, before Livingston entered in administration I sold the club.

“Under me the judge decided to nominate an interim manager because the club was saveable.”

Donald McGruther was the interim manager appointed to Livingston on July 23, 2009, after West Lothian Council went to the courts to try and recover £330,000 in rent arrears.

Massone agreed to sell his shares to Gordon McDougall and Neil Rankine for £50,000 on July 31.

Despite the Italian departing the club at that point, Livingston were relegated to Division Three for being unable to put up a £720,000 bond to the SFL to guarantee their ability to fulfil fixtures for 2009/10.

McDougall handed the shares back to McGruther and the club went into administration on August 18.

Creditors of Livingston voted in favour of a CVA at 2p in the pound and the club exited administration on September 17.

A spokesman for Hearts’ administrators, BDO, said they could not comment on any of the current bids.

The SFA declined to comment.

Massone's offer for Hearts is the latest of the Rome-based businessman’s attempts to get back into football following his tenure at Almondvale.

In 2010 he fronted a bid to buy Italian side Vicenza but was unsuccessful in the face of strong opposition from the supporters.

The Vicenza fans displayed banners reading “Massone non ti vogliamo!” ("We don’t want Massone!") and the local media reacted negatively towards him.

Massone has also been linked with bids for Kilmarnock and St Mirren in the past three years.