No surprise there, then.

Anyone any idea of why this consortium pulled out?

Would anyone have supported the team in Stirling? I don't think SRU would accept their deal, probably because they didn't want to move away from Glasgow.

Whether or not the bid was to take the pro team elsewhere wasn't the issue. The SRU never kicked the consortium bid to touch over that particular issue or any other issue.

It was the consortium themselves who withdrew their bid. Probably due to the fact that the SRU were pretty unprofessional in their dealings.

The SRU declaring the time had arrived for outside investment to the pro game in Scotland despite the fact that they had this particular consortium bid in their HQ in-tray for months without taking one look at it or contacting the consortium. Very professional!

Nevermind though, a lot of people will be pleased that Glasgow Rugby's safe for one more season.

Already questions have arisen with regard to player contracting issues and a whole host of other topics between the franchised side and the other two sides still under the SRUs control.

The questions over the survival of Glasgow Rugby will arise again though, same time, same place next season when the SRU realise the realities of pro rugby in Scotland when the axe is hanging over a side yet again.

Long-term plans from the SRU regarding Glasgow / Borders rugby?...well there doesn't seem to be any!

Outside investment being welcomed for the other two sides under control of the SRU?...well there doesn't seem to be any!

Oh dear, where are we? A team has been franchised. Three pro-teams still operate in Scotland. Players under contract will get a chance to play rugby rather than be professional trainers. Glasgow are still playing in the city. Borders are still playing in the Borders. Result, I'd say.

Could it just be that McKie chose what he considered to be the best offer (the Carruthers bid) and Burgess/Carver/Logan have spat the dummy and withdrawn as a result of that? I doubt their bid wasn't even looked at - I'm sure I heard that the Burgess consortium had met with Brian Kennedy - a guy who I think we can all agree knows a wee bit about making a success of a professional rugby club. Could it just be that McKie, Kennedy et al thought that the Burgess/Carver/Logan plans were a non-starter? Perhaps they believe that a professional rugby team can be a success in Glasgow and want to give the Simmers/Mackay plans a chance to evolve? Maybe they weren't convinced a Stirling based team wouldn be successful.

I doubt anyone is saying the current situation is perfect. It is, though, far better than it could have been. Perhaps we will be in the same situation next season? But one team has been franchised - some people said that wouldn't happen. Nobody saw the Carruthers bid coming. Who's to say another won't be franchised at the end of the coming season? Sometimes, just sometimes, good things happen.

A fair summing up on behalf of all Glasgow supporters, I would suggest, Gordon.

Here Here!

Okie dokie Gordon, a few points to clear up here.

The Carver/Burgess bid under the title "Rugby Development Ltd" was looked at by the SRU but the fact was that it lay in the in-tray at HQ for almost three months without being looked at. This, at the same time the SRU were spinning their "outside interest is the way forward" agenda left, right & centre in media-world.

The Carver/Burgess bid wasn't fully 100% set on moving a side to let’s see…Stirling…Perth…Falkirk or wherever else media-world said they were headed to.

Their bid didn't state anywhere that a pro side they were interested in HAD to move or that was that, they weren't interested. Options included a "possibility" of a move by a pro side. The consortium had options on the table for a pro side.

This was despite the "move to Stirling" bandwagon trail which media-world & the SRU seemed to get twisted and tangled up into simply because Carver had visited Forthbank Stadium, on another matter, when the media-world & the SRU were in "franchise frenzy".

Carver & Burgess also visited the Stirling Univerity campus on the same day as the visit to Stirling Albion’s Forthbank Stadium. Did the media say a pro team move to a base at Stirling Uni was in the offing?!

Back in media-world will all these "un-named sources" with their info come out into the open? All these "un-named sources" that media-world were quoting about moves to...well let's see Bridgehaugh first, then Forthbank Stadium, then Falkirk FCs Westfield Stadium, then to a completely new ground on the outskirts of Stirling.

These "un-named sources" were directing the shots, albeit well, well off target, to the media-world at the time.

Anyway, no doubt there could have been things in the franchise bid which the SRU didn’t like, the SRU asked to change or vice versa. It’s safe to say there were issues with "professionalism" regarding the way business was handled but I can safely say that the consortium never "spat the dummy" out as you quoted earlier.

Unfortunately this is the kind of mess that evolves when the SRU say one thing in the media, do another thing, spin press releases after another and simply ignore the supporters of the pro sides in the whole process.

I wouldn't say it's in the best interest of the SRU to be unprofessional with their dealings with the pro supporters, as we've seen. Neither, I wouldn't have thought it was in the best interest of the SRU to be unprofessional in their dealings with possible business and persons who wish to put something into the pro game in Scotland.

It wasn't just unnamed sources that were talking about relocating. A named source - Kenny Logan - was saying things in the press such as... "For a rugby team to have a chance of attracting a new generation of supporters you have to go into an area, or a community, where there is a gap in the market.

"When Wasps went to High Wycombe, people were sceptical, but attendances have doubled.

"The only London-based rugby team that continues to draw decent crowds is Harlequins. But they have a long, well-established history at The Stoop - and they don't have a dominant football team on their doorstep like Rangers or Celtic.

"I think the commercial opportunities for a rugby team in Stirling, Perth or Falkirk are huge."

Hardly a ringing endorsement for staying in Glasgow...

If, as you say, there was no mention in the bid that the team HAD to move, then we can only conclude, from what Kenny says, that the consortium was prepared to invest in a team (Glasgow) that in the view of their future marketing guru (Kenny) had no chance of "attracting a new generation of supporters". They would be investing where there was no "gap in the market".

Be it Bridgehaugh, Forthbank Stadium or Falkirk FC's Westfield Stadium, it certainly looks like a relocation of the team was very much in their thoughts.

As you say, we should be very careful and not chase away people who are willing to invest in the game. The Edinburgh/Carruthers deal seems to have been done quickly, and it was certainly done without any input from the "media-world" amid a "franchise frenzy" - very professional I'd say.

I don't know why McKie didn't opt for the Burgess/Carver/Logan bid and instead decided to go with the Brothers Carruthers. But maybe, just maybe, he made the decision he did because he thought it was the best one for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Borders and Scottish rugby in general? I'm not surprised there are apparently claims that the SRU were unprofessional regarding the Burgess/Carver/Logan bid - after all, they were the ones who were unsuccessful.

As I said earlier the consortium bid had options. One of the options was to have a pro team playing in another place, which was what Logan was talking about. One option, unfortunately that's all media-world, chose to speak of.

There was an option of moving to a new location. Marketing, money, gaps in the market, it was all enclosed in part of the overall plans. There wasn't any ringing endoresment by the consortium to up the sticks overnight and move, despite what media-world and "un-named sources" would have everyone believe.

In regard of the "un-named sources" coining out the info to media-world. It would have been good to give some of the relevant info that WAS inside the bidding documentation though instead of the same brown stuff we did receive on out printed news on the franchising bid, from of course our "un-named sources".

There's truth in the old saying of not mixing sport with politics, unforunately theres still a particular network that's running high through rugby in Scotland.

Oh, by the way, just to end. Burgess, Carver or Logan never stated the SRU were "unprofessional" but they did say publicly a few times speaking not too highly about the SRU earlier on in the consortium bidding. The word "unprofessional" is my personal opinion based on information and facts I know.

What did the "un-named sources" have to hide by not giving their names in the stuff they were telling media-world? You have to question if the info was all above board and truthful then why hide under the "un-named source" tag?

Of course our "un-named" sources can always contradict, but then one has to ask if they contradict and produce false information on franchising bids, which the SRU had said was good for the game, then they obviously don't have the best interests of Scottish rugby at heart do they?

A thought to ponder while perusing through the pro ranks or any political gathering this season.

HB75, what exactly is the "brown stuff" you refer to? Is the media telling us that the Burgess/Carver/Logan group wanted to move the team to Stirling really "brown stuff"? It's what they wanted to do! Look at what Kenny actually said in the quotes above - do his words convince you that he considered keeping the team in Glasgow to be a credible option? Are you telling us that staying in Glasgow and the proposal to move to Stirling were equally attractive to the consortium?

Perhaps there are so many unnamed sources because there was a confidentiality agreement surrounding the bids?

I also couldn't help having a laugh at your criticism of "unnamed sources". Will you now be referencing the source of every piece of information on the SRU you receive? Of course you won't - that's not how it works. If you did that you wouldn't get any more information.

Incidently, if the unnamed sources were putting out so much "brown stuff" the Burgess/Carver/Logan group could have set us all straight on the matter when the confidentiality agreement was lifted on the Mackay/Simmers bid. I can't recall them doing that. With Kenny's connections in the media it would have been simple to tell us the Stirling move was only one option. They didn't.

It is now time for the SRU and Us to get behind the Simmers/MacKay bid. So spread the word IT's GLASGOW IT's THE WARRIORS.

As someone always prefered that Warriors stayed in Glasgow, BUT even above that wanted 3 pro-teams...........one lesson life teaches is that it is always more difficult to conduct negotiations in a gold fish bowl. I don't know how the Burgess etc consortium managed or chose to get their bid/options/preferences into the public domain, but I thin kthat was clearly a problem. In this specific case, if they chose to put their ideas into the public domain, it is an error in that it hardens views before discussions, and allows hare to be set running whther true or flase - and so opponents gain the upper hand. If it was not the consortiums decision to get into public debate then IMHO they should not have allowed themselves to be drawn in. If not the consortium's decision then I do woory how it came into public scrutiny and am very concerned a tthe implications.

What the Carruthers successful bid shows is the other side of the coin. Negotiate in private, then no one loses face if there are "difficult" issues.

I would have thought all bidders signed up to a "confidential" agreement as bids were being assembled--the Simmers/Mackay bid had to break cover because the SRU(McKie)announced that they were deserting Scotstoun and GCC which of course was a central part of their bid in effect disadvantaging that particular approach

wish I could type and spell!!!!!!!!!!!