Andy Barrowman has confessed Raith Rovers have suffered a ‘blow’ after David Healy took ‘cold feet’ over an agreed move to Stark’s Park.
The Raith chief executive has revealed the Linfield boss had finalised terms to become the club’s new manager.
A compensation package had also been confirmed with Linfield.
However, between the Windsor Park side’s 5-1 victory over Loughgall on Saturday and the following morning, Healy had a change of heart.
The 45-year-old has since penned a 12-month extension to his contract with Linfield to tie him to the club until 2026.
But the episode has left Barrowman and Rovers frustrated – and still hunting for Ian Murray’s successor after more than three weeks.
“David wasn’t on the original short-list we had, but he applied for the job and we found it quite an appealing one,” Barrowman told Courier Sport.
“So, we spoke with his representatives and contacted Linfield for permission to speak directly to David.
“We were granted that on Friday morning and we spoke with David and agreed terms with David.
‘Only David will know the truth’
“We had agreed a deal. But between Saturday night and Sunday morning he changed his mind.
“I don’t know whether that’s because he’s been offered a new contract, because I know he’s signed a new contract.
“That wasn’t the reason David gave to me and to us, but who knows? Only David will know the truth on that one.
“There’s a compensation figure within David’s contract and it was pretty straight forward, we were prepared to meet that.
“Everything was going forward. It was a fairly significant fee within his contract to get him out of that contract, and we were prepared to meet that clause.
“Everything was agreed, it was happening, and then David changed his mind. He took cold feet, as he says. That’s where we are with David Healy.
“It was obviously a blow because we felt David would be a good fit for us.
“The conversations and discussions had gone well, in terms of what he thought about us and what we thought about him.
“So, absolutely it was a blow.”
‘Disappointing it became public’
Aberdeen coach Peter Leven has also knocked back the chance to take over Raith since Murray was sacked in the wake of the opening league game of the season.
But this was the closest Rovers had got to an appointment.
It has left Barrowman disappointed by the public nature of the discussions with Healy but determined to push on with a search now in its fourth week.
“It wasn’t made public from our side, that’s probably the disappointing fact,” he added. “As soon as it got to Linfield it became public.
“That’s not what we wanted to do, it’s not how we’ve conducted ourselves throughout this process.
“But it seemed to be when it hit Belfast it went public, which is disappointing.
“We’re not back to square one, because there’s been a lot of preparatory work done in the last few weeks, despite people getting frustrated at that work.
“We’ve had conversations with others, so it’s obvious to say we’re further ahead than we were before those conversations.”
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