Dundee United fans’ group ArabTRUST have asked the board at Tannadice to resign and be replaced by them.
But as he looks for a buyer, such a move is not attractive to Tangerines owner/chairman Stephen Thompson.
United’s majority shareholder has been in the USA this week speaking to potential new investors and, as the Tele revealed yesterday, if they’ve convinced him they’re the right people to take the club forward he would be willing to sell up completely.
Whether it’s to the people he’s been meeting this week or others who emerge now it’s known the club is for sale, severing all ties with the club his family has owned since 2002 is Thompson’s preferred option.
But it isn’t the only one.
The Tele can reveal he has been approached by ArabTRUST who want him and his entire board to stand down.
The trust would then set up an interim board that would run United while new owners were sought.
There have been suggestions there are Scottish-based United fans who have both the funds and desire to take control, though recently-appointed trust chairman Gavin Muir has said he is not aware there are definitely such people out there.
ArabTRUST do already have a representative on the United board in the shape of associate director Colin Stewart and own a 2.7% stake in the club.
What, by themselves, they don’t have are funds to acquire Thompson’s 53% shareholding and that makes handing over power to them unattractive in his eyes.
In looking at their proposal he has applied the same rules he will to any potential buyer, namely he would have to be convinced they had the resources to take United forward.
Before taking their proposal seriously, he would want details of who’d they’d be passing the club to in the future and so far none have been forthcoming.
And while the trust has been a force for good during its 13-year existence and is the only group with a seat at the top table at Tannadice, it does not represent all United fans.
The Federation of United Supporters Clubs also speak for a large number of rank and file Arabs.
There is a feeling in some quarters a handing over of power would have to involve them.
Should Thompson be unable to find a buyer, the ArabTRUST plan could be the only exit strategy.
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