By Gordon Simpson
THE Football League have strongly refuted Pinnacle’s reasons for pulling out of a deal to buy Saints.
After announcing they were withdrawing from the race, Pinnacle pinned the blame on the league.
Despite saying they would waive their right to appeal the ten-point deduction imposed on the club, the Matt Le-Tissier backed group said there were “other issues” preventing a deal going ahead.
Primary in those is understood to be Pinnacle’s supposed demand for an assurance they would not be docked further points written into the contracts between the parties.
However, that suggestion has infuriated the league.
They said Pinnacle had not made them aware of any major issue other than the right to appeal the ten-point deduction.
Furthermore, the league told the Daily Echo on more than one occasion, and in unequivocal terms, that no further deductions were being considered against Saints.
The only scenario where a club would receive a further deduction is if they fail to agree a CVA with their creditors on exiting administration.
However, the league has admitted to the Echo that it is not expecting that to be an issue with Saints in any way.
There is no other scenario under the league’s rules in which Saints could be deducted further points.
Although they had initially planned not to comment, Pinnacle’s statements in the hours following their withdrawal prompted the league to issue a strong rebuttal.
In it, they said that all that was left in order for Pinnacle to proceed was to “provide clarification in regard to funding and sign the contract.”
A spokesman said: “We are very surprised by the comments that other conditions, allegedly imposed by the League, led to the Pinnacle Group withdrawing from their proposed takeover of Southampton Football Club.
“Throughout our discussions no conditions other than a waiver in regard to sporting sanctions have ever been raised with us as a major issue.
“The Pinnacle Group has been in receipt of a contract from the League for over a week now.
“To proceed, all it needed to do was to provide clarification in regard to funding and sign the contract.”
There are murmurings behind the scenes that Pinnacle may not have given up hope of completing a deal yet and that they might try to use the league’s public statement as proof there will be no further sanctions.
However, as it stands, both Pinnacle and the Football League – who maintain that is what they have told them all along anyway – are at odds in what they are saying.
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