THE board of top Swiss side FC Basel rejected the group backing Peter Shackleton's bid for Burnley because of their secrecy.

Basel vice-president Mario Cueni, a director of UBS bank, said the group's approaches were shrouded in mystery. He said: "Our concern was that we did not know exactly who the men with the money were."

The Swiss First Division outfit were last week bought by ENIC and a group including UBS.

But the club was first contacted by two men acting for an un-named Barcelona-based corporation.

Shackleton's backers include two men, Ian Burns and France-based businessman Michel Kupfer, who are both involved in a corporation run from Barcelona.

An interest in Burnley Football Club was never mentioned by the men who met with Basel officials on three occasions.

Those men were Pierre Andre De La Croix, who is on the Swiss Olympic Committee, and Pierre Alain Gras, who runs a medical business from near Geneva. Cueni explained: "They once refered to a corporation in Barcelona but not with regard to a specific name.

"They talked of a co-operative agreement with Barcelona and told us Barcelona were interested in working together with our club.

"In a way we had quite a good relationship with them.

"But it was a black box -we did not exactly understand who or what was behind it.

"They said they had substantial assets which they could invest in football."

"And they were interested in an exchange of players which could lead to an investment.

"It never got to a stage where we thought this could actually happen.

"We did receive a contract about a possible co-operation but did not think it was favourable for Basel FC."

De La Croix and Gras said they owned the transfer rights for three African players, including a 19-year-old, and 25-year-old Swiss defender Eddy Barea. Cueni added: "They proposed terms in which these players would play for Basel."

Burnley chairman Frank Teasdale spoke of "extra goodies" worked into the £12 million deal first 'accepted' by the Burnley board in April.

Shackleton still maintains that his backers retain an interest in buying Burnley Football Club and today strenuously denied suggestions that an announcement of the collapse of his deal would be made within 24 hours.

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