Diamonds handed potential lifelines

The future of the Airdrie players is in the balance

Three takeover bids have been submitted for threatened Scottish first division side Airdrie.

The club's liquidators KPMG confirmed that they have received three offers, including one from former Barcelona and Tottenham star Steve Archibald.

A deadline of 1700BST on Monday had been imposed by KPMG in an effort to secure a buyer.

Blair Nimmo: Considering bids

Provisional liquidator Blair Nimmo will now look over the bids with the potential buyers to clarify details.

Mr Nimmo said: "I am pleased to announce that we have received three bids.

"However, as you would expect, each of the offers has a variety of conditions attached to it," said Nimmo.

"We are therefore currently in discussions with each of the interested parties to obtain further clarification of their offers and hope to be in a position to announce a preferred bidder later this week.

"I can confirm that Steve Archibald is one of the bidders."

Archibald has already seen two bids turned down by KPMG who insisted the offers were nowhere near their valuation of the club's worth.

Steve Archibald: Third bid

The former Scotland striker expressed his increasing annoyance at KPMG's lack of willingness to accept his approaches.

Liquidators were called in to the beleaguered club on 1 February.

Financial problems came to a head when Airdrie's share of the gate receipts for a Scottish Cup tie were arrested by Rangers chairman, David Murray, on behalf of his company Carnegie, over a debt of around £30,000.

The football club's board moved swiftly after the liquidators were brought in and they changed their constitution to allow more private investment.

Up until now, no Airdrie shareholder has been allowed to own more than 10% of the shares.

Airdrie were at the centre of recent takeover speculation amid reports that Motherwell chairman John Boyle wanted to acquire the Diamonds and create a bigger Lanarkshire club.