Raith Rovers: Deal with Silverbear Capital Inc is officially 'dead in the water'

Raith owner John Sim is keen to sell the Stark’s Park club – which has lost an average of £150,000 a season since 2005 – but it won’t be to Silver Bear, with negotiations instead continuing between Sim and an unnamed group of Scottish businessmen about a potential deal by the end of January.

Raith chairman Steven MacDonald, speaking exclusively to the Fife Free Press, said: "The talks with Silver Bear are completely dead.

"I have had notification from Mike Dellios stating he won't be talking further so as far as that's concerned, I'm quite happy.

"I don't think they're the right people to get involved with. I think Mike has been unprofessional with the way he's gone about things.

"I didn't think there was any substance in what he was saying.

"I'm glad the deal hasn't gone through and we are happy to move on and speak to other possible investors.

"From speaking to the guys representing Silver Bear, there was just not enough meat on the bone, not enough knowledge regarding where the money was coming from.

"John Sim had asked for proof of funds and as far as I'm concerned he never saw anything."

Silver Bear have stated that part of their proposed deal with Rovers had included the condition that the Kirkcaldy outfit sign two free agent players – Dellios’s son Michael and a star “from one of the top clubs in world football” – brokered by Silverbear via Dellios.

Raith publicly stated that these players had been offered to and rejected by other Scottish clubs, a claim which Silver Bear disputes.

MacDonald added: "I have heard that Dellios has also had these guys at other clubs - including Edinburgh FC and Peterhead.

"It's like he's been going round about several clubs in Scotland and it's been very much the case that he's been saying: 'If you sign my players, you'll get investment'."

But Dellios, 60, who describes himself as a Swiss marketing expert, told the Fife Free Press that Rovers had allegedly reneged on their promise to sign these players in January.

He said: “For four months these players trained with Raith, played against Hibs, Alloa and Airdrie, always top performing and then Raith said the deals weren’t happening.

"The players could have gone to another Championship club but we told them to stay with us, as we were going to give them a chance in January.

"There was a Scottish League One club and a club in England (who were also interested) but because they were living in Glasgow we told the players to stay at Raith.”

This newspaper understands that Rovers chiefs doubted that Dellios had any official connection with Silver Bear supremo Chun, but the Swiss strongly disputes this.

He said: “I knew Rovers were looking for an investor. Then in August or September I was in my friend Kevin Chan’s Glasgow restaurant – Steak and Cherry – and he is from Hong Kong.

"And he had someone on the phone from Hong Kong. They were talking and they mentioned football clubs so I said: ‘What is it about?’.

"They said they were looking to invest in football clubs. So I spoke to Peter Chun (who was on the other end of the phone) and I said I knew that Raith Rovers was a good club to buy.

"I met Peter in London twice saying that I got on well with Ian Murray (Raith manager) and the way he treated the young players was good.”