Can a new title win lion's share of the market?

With an editorial staff of 12 already in place and distribution and printing contracts confirmed, launch editor MacLeod hopes the mix of enthusiasm and experience in his small Paisley-based team will be enough to get the new entrant to the race for readers off the starting blocks and keeping pace with the rest.

He said yesterday: "We have everything in place and are raring to go. It’s a new thing for me, I’ve never started a newspaper before. I have worked on magazines but my experience in newspapers has been with established titles such as the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, but it is exciting."

However, can the new kid on the block - with its launch date thought to be as early as next month, ahead of a May general election when it is expected to be running for the SNP - succeed where others have failed? Observers are sceptical.

Despite his own lack of editing experience, MacLeod says he is confident in his team and predicts the paper will succeed. "We’ve been working on the design with dummy runs. We will be available in supermarkets and newsagents, just like every other paper in Scotland. The team is a mix of experience and enthusiasm. We have one long-term Sunday Mail and Sunday Post man coming to join us and I’m very pleased and very enthusiastic about our progress. I am certain we will be in place for the election," said MacLeod.

The title is financially backed by Derek Carstairs, a 37-year-old Scots-born small publisher based in Belfast, who commutes between there and Paisley as the owner and managing director of Flagship Media.

MacLeod said they are already selling space in the new paper. "We have been selling advertising space and if there is one thing Derek Carstairs can do, that is sell ads."

When the idea of a new weekly newspaper was first mooted by Carstairs, it was suspected that the title would have financial backing from the SNP and be "a Nat paper", but MacLeod dismissed this claim, saying it would be pro- independence but would cater for all political beliefs. "It will not be a SNP newspaper. It will have no connection to the SNP. They do use spare offices that Derek has but that is a commercial venture which has nothing to do with us."

At an SNP conference fringe meeting in September last year, Mr Carstairs spoke to delegates about his plans, and journalist Terry Houston joined to be editor but did not stay. Advertisements for an editor for a new tabloid with a "keen interest in Scottish politics allied with a love of all things Scottish" began appearing in the appointment sections of the Scottish media.

Carstairs says the chequered history of the paper’s start-up was largely based on untruths. He would not reveal when the paper would hit the stands nor where it would be printed but he believes, from "extensive market research", there is a gap in the market.

It is understood DC Thomson and Newsquest have spare printing capacity and have both been consulted. John Menzies will cover distribution. Carstairs said he would not reveal details of the printing or distribution plans but said it would be a high-quality product. "Everyone we have spoken to, from the grass-roots to senior buyers have been very supportive."

The Scottish Standard will be a 56-page tabloid-style format, "not dissimilar to The Scotsman", said MacLeod, and will be for sale as a mid-market weekly, covering news, politics, sport, business and features. One insider, privy to the plans, revealed that Carstairs had consulted the Irish Independent and was impressed by its format and lower-case masthead. Carstairs said the exact format and launch date are "commercially sensitive" but said he expected his editorial team to be covering a May election.

Many media observers remain sceptical, partly because neither Flagship nor MacLeod have any experience of running or launching a national newspaper and the fact that the competition is so strong, not just from established Scottish newspapers, but the Scottish editions of the London titles.

Jack Irvine, ex-editor of The Scottish Sun and editor of doomed Sunday Scot said Carstairs must be insane. "He must have money to burn. Why would anyone want to do a new newspaper in Scotland when everyone is witnessing declining sales. I’d like to see his market research. It would make for interesting reading."

Steven Walker, The Scotsman Publications’ managing director, said: "We must have one of the most competitive markets in the world and success in Scottish newspaper industry does not come cheap. I would have thought the experience of Business AM where the Swedish Bonnier group lost millions over three years would be enough to put people off."

Another high-profile failure was The Sunday Scot, backed by Rangers boss David Murray which swallowed more than 3 million during its four-month existence in 1991. Irvine said Carstairs would need to have "a good few million" to burn in an attempt to establish a loyal readership and a knock-out first few issues, vital to sustaining its shelf-life.

Despite what Carstairs believes to be the unique selling point - the fact that Scotland does not have a Nationalist newspaper with broad appeal - reaching this market will be incredibly difficult without a broad cross-media campaign with television and billboard advertising required.

Crawford Brankin, a public relations executive who helped launch the East Kilbride Mail with footballer Ally McCoist last year, said the new paper will get some readers, but the question will be "will it get any advertisers?"

One senior news agency executive said last night that he knew of no contact from the Paisley operation to provide copy or pictures.

Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, said: "I welcome diversity in the Scottish press and I’m very encouraged that it is being launched from an independence perspective, I really do think there is a gap in the market for this type of newspaper. Mr Carstairs has a strong stable of existing titles, so the new paper he is launching is coming from a strong base."