by Stuart Crowther

Date: 6th July 2002

De La Cruz offer is in the post Agent continues to punt defender everywhere bar Easter Road!  Meanwhile Scottish football moves to a level playing field.... HIBS ALREADY HAVE AN OFFER ON THE TABLE for Ulises de la Cruz - but nobody at Easter Road seems to know about it!  The Ecuador international, currently resting after his efforts in the World Cup finals when he emerged as far and away his nations best player, continues to be punted around the world by his United States-based agent as it becomes clear the player has no wish to return to Edinburgh. De La Cruz, or his representatives at least, did all they could during the World Cup to generate interest with teams from Spain, Italy and England accorded with a firm desire to rescue De La Cruz from Hibs.  So far all that Hibs have seen is talk, with nobody willing to negotiate with the club over the player they signed a year ago on a 4-year deal reported to be worth £700,000.  The latest statement from Eric Manasse, who also provided Hibs with Ecuador striker Eduardo Hurtado days before Alex McLeish quit the club, made it quite clear that as far as he is concerned his client will not be a Hibs player next season.  Manasse said: "We have one concrete offer from a big South American club."  Short, simple and to the point - but as Hibs are yet to receive any offers for De La Cruz, they will expect the player to return to Edinburgh around the same time that managing director Rod Petrie returns from holiday a week on Monday. Manasse with his charge - determined to find an exit from Easter Road Meanwhile there was wholesale confusion yesterday over a new television deal that could go a long way to rescuing a number of SPL clubs, including Hibs.  Early reports indicated that the BBC had agreed a £24m two-year deal to cover the Scottish Premier League, a story that was repeated on the official Rangers web site as well as various other news agencies, including the BBC!  The story was subsequently pulled from the Rangers site with embarrassed officials claiming that they had simply picked up the story from the national media.  Both the BBC and the SPL meanwhile denied that any deal had been concluded, although notably neither side denied that agreement was close.  With the three main negotiators for the SPL all currently on holiday, the denials are no real surprise but Hibs.net understands that negotiations are close to completion and the BBC will cover the SPL for the next two years. One man clearly unhappy with the deal is Rangers owner David Murray, who stepped down from his Chairmanship of the club yesterday after 14 years.  The ongoing negotiations between the Old Firm and the other 10 clubs over the future of the SPL have clearly played a large part in Murray's decision, as Rangers and Celtic both found themselves having to give ground to the 'SPL-10' who had threatened to give notice to resign from the league ahead of the kick-off on August 3rd.  That now looks very unlikely as it seems there has been a climb down from Rangers and Celtic on the key points of voting rights and financial share-outs.  While again it is yet to be confirmed, it is now widely understood that future voting on key matters will move away from the existing 11/12 majority requirement to 8/12, effectively stripping the Old Firm of their ability to block the wishes of the majority of member clubs. Rod Petrie faces the media - he was a prime mover in an SPL revolution that yesterday led to David Murray quitting Rangers Faced with the reality that the 10 clubs would carry out their threat, and the fact that the escape doors from Scottish football sought by the Old Firm are firmly closed, it seems that Rangers and Celtic have also found themselves having to greatly reduce their personal demands for the lions share of any television and other media rights owned by the SPL.  The tense negotiations that have taken place behind the closed doors of SPL Chairman and former Hibs chief Lex Gold's home have taken their toll on Rangers boss Murray, who said following his resignation: "I just don't want to go and sit at Lex Gold's house for 16 hour meetings any more, and come out with nothing achieved.  I don't run things by committee, I've always run my businesses by making decisions." And Murray took a swipe at clubs in the SPL who were seeking a level playing field in Scotland when he said: "If you look at things now we are arguing over TV deals and all the ills of Scottish football are being blamed on Rangers and Celtic.  Forget that world football is in crisis, in Scotland it's Rangers and Celtic's fault.  That gets lost in the wash.  I still get up every day with a hunger and passion to succeed in what I'm doing, but you can only do that if it's a level playing field."  And apparently confirming that Rangers and Celtic had given up a lot of ground over both voting rights and the percentage share of available cash in the league, Murray added: "We are prepared to take less money and change the voting structure, but every time we go to negotiate they want to renegotiate what we've already negotiated."  That perhaps underlines the changing face of the game in Scotland more than anything else, as the shift in power appears to be moving towards a more democratic format, something that just can't be accepted it seems by the former Rangers chairman.