A takeover of Raith Rovers by Silverbear Capital is ‘dead in the water’.
The Hong Kong-based investment firm are now said to be interested in other clubs both north and south of the border.
Rovers owner John Sim last month appealed for new investors, though he is willing to sell his majority stake should the right offer materialise.
Talks are continuing to progress with a group of unnamed Scottish businessmen, but there will be no deal with Silverbear.
Speaking to Fife Today, club chairman Steven MacDonald said: “The talks with Silverbear are completely dead.
“I have had notification from (Silverbear advisor) Mike Dellios stating he won’t be talking further so as far as that’s concerned, I’m quite happy.
“I don’t think they’re the right people to get involved with.
“I think Mike has been unprofessional with the way he’s gone about things.
‘No meat on the bone’
“I didn’t think there was any substance in what he was saying.
“I’m glad the deal hasn’t gone through and we are happy to move on and speak to other possible investors.
“From speaking to the guys representing Silver Bear, there was just not enough meat on the bone, not enough knowledge regarding where the money was coming from.
“John Sim had asked for proof of funds and as far as I’m concerned he never saw anything.”
The newspaper also reported that Dellios, who is also CEO of EVRO Football Pro academy, accused Rovers of failing to keep up their end of the bargain.
The Swiss national said the arrangement was for Raith to sign three of his players in this transfer window.
“For four months these players trained with Raith, played (in bounce matches) against Hibs, Alloa and Airdrie, always top performing and then Raith said the deals weren’t happening,” said Dellios.
“The players could have gone to another Championship club but we told them to stay with us, as we were going to give them a chance in January.
“There was a Scottish League One club and a club in England [who were also interested] but because they were living in Glasgow we told the players to stay at Raith.”
Sim to give interview
Sim is due to travel back to Thailand, where he is based, in the coming days.
COMING SOON… | On Monday, we sat down with the club's majority shareholder for a chat 🗣️
An hour-long extended interview with John Sim will go live on our YouTube and podcast channels at lunchtime tomorrow (Thursday).
Thanks to John for taking the time to talk to us. pic.twitter.com/MZZdafboUE
— RaithTV (@RaithTV) January 11, 2023
Earlier in the week he gave an interview to Raith TV which is due to be broadcast on Thursday.
Last week Rovers issued a stinging rebuttal of Dellios’ claims after the club was accused of “a lack of corporate social responsibility by the management”.
A club source responded: “During these discussions it also became evident that Mr Dellios vision was not beholding of our club values nor was his conduct supportive of the standards generally accepted within Scottish Football.”
