NO MORE BACKS TO DINGWALL IF AL-FAYED HELPS OUT

Jun 17 2007 Rob Maclean

I WAS back in my Highland homeland last week, driving through Dingwall while wondering why Britain's highest-profile shopkeeper would want to throw some of his petty cash at the local football team.

There's a buzz about the place with Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed opening discussions with Ross County about offering a helping hand to the newly-relegated Second Division side.

He has local links, of course, since buying the sprawling 65,000-acre Balnagown Estate in 1972. Already he has sent former Hearts and Celtic player John Colquhoun as his representative to Victoria Park on a fact-finding mission.

Al-Fayed has been chairman of Premiership side Fulham for the past 10 years, investing an estimated £200 million along the way, and there has been talk of a player loan link-up.

But the prospect of young players swapping the streets of London for sleepy Easter Ross, when even some Scots from the central belt struggle to settle in the north, would seem unlikely.

What County really need, having been on the brink of administration not so long ago, is money.

And who better to bail them out than a man who has spent £20m to restore nearby Balnagown Castle, home of the Clan Ross.

Would he write the club a cheque out of the goodness of his own heart? Or would Al Fayed have ulterior motives for giving County a cash injection to sustain full-time football?

A generous donation would do his public profile no harm at a time when he wants to fight Highland Council's rejection of controversial plans to site a 23-turbine wind farm on part of his land.

The publicity-loving tycoon could also do with winning local support for some of his other proposals - like building a new village in Ross-shire or the conversion of a Cromarty Firth oil rig into a hotel.

That's maybe a cynical view of Al-Fayed's motives and, anyway, another question springs to mind. Who cares?

Whatever his reason for getting involved, County would welcome him with open arms and surely offer a seat on the board to him or one of his staff.

A new source of income would give Scottish football's most northerly senior team some breathing space in its long-term aim to be self-financing.

There's a plan to build office accommodation around the Dingwall ground with the rental income making County a property company as well as a football club and securing their future.

If the operation paid for itself, that would allow chairman Roy McGregor to take a step back from the full-scale commitment he's shown to his local team for the last 15 years.

McGregor used to be a shop owner himself, even if his Invergordon supermarket wasn't Harrods, and now has worldwide business interests that employ 1,800 people.

He's been bankrolling the club since it hit financial trouble and will continue to do so for the next couple of years.

By then, County will hope to be back in the First Division and targeting another assault on promotion to the SPL.

They got pretty close two seasons ago but their most recent bid ended in relegation and the resignation of rookie manager Scott Leitch.

The low-budget mixture of talented youngsters and loan players, like Celtic trio Gary Irvine, Michael Gardyne and Diarmuid O'Carroll, didn't prove a winning blend.

Where County have become a massive success in the last few years is in youth development.

Gary Mackay Steven is just 17 years but he's signed for Liverpool in a deal that could be worth more than half a million pounds to the Dingwall team if he lives up to his huge potential.

And there are more on the production line. Bolton have taken a fancy to 16-year-old right-back Graham Girvan.

And young keeper Mark Ridgers has just been sold to Hearts.

Last season's skipper Don Cowie followed in the footsteps of John Rankin and switched to Inverness Caley.

So County are producing top talent at youth level but they will need to get more streetwise on the first-team front.

That's clearly why they've hired the experienced Dick Campbell as manager - although I must say I was surprised at the appointment because he hadn't exactly cracked it at Partick Thistle.

But he is a Second Division promotion specialist and has been told he'll be out of a job if he doesn't add another entry to his honours list.

I think that's what you call incentive.

Dick's not been hanging about in the transfer market.

He's already signed former Inverness captain Stuart Golabek and keeper Tony Bullock will make a return to the club.

Freed Dunfermline defender Andy Tod is on the wanted list even if they've been beaten by Thistle to Cowdenbeath striker Liam Buchanan.

But the new recruit that would really excite the County fans won't be putting his boots on. They'd be happy if Al-Fayed (left) simply put his hand in his pocket.