Rescue deal hope for Livingston

A RESCUE package for Livingston worth £500,000 could be on the table next week as Neil Rankine and Gordon McDougall team up to save the club from administration.

It's understood from sources that the pair are expected to raise the cash and will offer creditors 50 per cent of their debts as they would receive nothing if the club went bust.

Rankine says chairman Angelo Massone must stand down if the club is to survive but one of the main sticking points of any deal is the Italian's demands. He owns 76 per cent of the shareholding and says he has invested 500,000 in the club which he wants back.

Rankine met with a group of fans and Livingston MSP Angela Constance this week without the presence of Massone in a bid to take a possible deal forward.

A source said: "Even 500,000 might not be enough to save the club which has debts of at least 1.35 million. Mr Massone wants his creditors to accept reduced offers because they won't get a penny if it goes into administration, so he must be willing to accept at least half of what he wants.

"Even if all the debts were halved, it still might not be enough to save the club from administrators and that's not what anyone wants. There will be 500,000 on the table for a deal next week. That's all that can be raised to save the club. Whether it's enough we don't know yet."

Part of the 1.35-million debt Livingston owes includes the remainder of former boss Paul Hegarty's contract while West Lothian Council is owed 300,000 and the taxman is due 190,000.

If no deal is reached with creditors by a week today, the club will face administration as the court action raised by West Lothian Council for the rent arrears will proceed.