Hamilton Accies chairman Jock Brown has penned an open letter to supporters following the club's relegation, and decision to move away from the town.
The recently relegated Championship club will leave their ground in Hamilton to play their 'home' matches at Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld, next season.
Brown has explained the reasoning behind this, as he revealed that taking Colin McGowan's offer to remain at their current stadium would have 'certainly finished the club'.
"No one is more upset about the club having to leave Hamilton than I am," Brown said in a lengthy statement. "I was brought up in the town, attended Hamilton Academy, played in the youth set-up, and have supported the team all my life.
"Any harm to local businesses or damage to the community in any way by the club’s relocation is something I would bitterly regret.
"But the board was left with absolutely no option. It became impossible to stay at New Douglas Park, and there is no other location at the moment available in the town which could house the club at this time.
"We tried for many months to purchase the company which owns the stadium, which was the seller’s preferred method of completing the transaction. The funds were in place. But the seller refused to provide all the normal information about the company – a standard, required procedure.
"He also refused to provide the normal, necessary warranties. That meant we would have had to buy the company without knowing what liabilities it had, and without having any redress if we found any. That would have been irresponsible in the extreme and would almost certainly have finished the club. We were also presented repeatedly during the negotiations with demands and threats, all of which we managed to ignore.
"The seller in the end sent a letter which was published by The Sun newspaper in which he claimed the club owed him rent in excess of £500,000 and which purported to offer a lease rent-free for two years.
"The club owes the owner absolutely nothing. Indeed, the contrary is the case.
"Further, the conditions attached to his proposed lease were completely unacceptable. The distortions and inaccuracies in his letter ended any possibility of a deal being agreed and brought all negotiations to an abrupt end.
"The experience of being tenants at New Douglas Park for two years was also totally unsatisfactory for the club in respect of players’ facilities, hospitality, catering, cost, and general management of the stadium. In the end the only course of action open to us was to leave.
"We appreciate that moving to Broadwood could adversely affect our home support. But we are aware that many supporters (I was one of these) had stopped attending matches in Hamilton because they were unhappy with the manner in which the club was run historically, going back many years.
"Hopefully, some of these will return and see this move as a fresh start. We are also carefully considering ways and means whereby we can help supporters attend matches."
