The Fife Free Press is on the verge of winning a campaign to save its local football club.

Raith Rovers was put up for sale by director Colin McGowan after a disastrous slide into Division Two and an ill-fated bid to bring in football agent Claude Anelka.

The outspoken McGowan claimed he’d had enough and wanted out – and threatened to sell the ground, Stark’s Park, for housing.

Amid growing concern, Reclaim The Rovers was launched in June, with the supporters groups and directors Eric Drysdale and Mario Caira inviting the press on board from day one.

The deal to bring the club back under the control of the community is expected to be done next month, and the campaign has been hailed as a model for other clubs to follow when faced with the threat of being sold or closed down.

The Press exclusive front page on Rovers’ future (below) was picked up by all the national dailies and also sparked interest from BBC Reporting Scotland and Radio Scotland, which carried interviews with Gordon Brown and Free Press editor Allan Crow.

Allan said: “The campaign was a tremendous success because it was supported by so many people – everyone was appalled at the prospect of losing their football team – and they all did what they could to help save it.

“The campaign team worked incredibly hard throughout the summer not only to save the club but to lay the foundations for the future, and now we can all start to look ahead with a great deal of optimism and confidence.

“Our readers have supported every single event, and that, in turn, has made a huge impression on the people who have been working hard behind the scenes and given them the impetus to ensure we were successful.”

In the past five months the Press has played a lead role in the drive and now it stands on the brink of success – thanks to a phenomenal campaign which has gained the support of fans, businesses and politicians.

On the eve of the G8 summit, the Press organised a briefing with local MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown – a Rovers fan since his boyhood – who spent hours discussing the club’s plight.

He continued to work intensely behind the scenes while the campaign set about organising a huge range of sponsored events.

They included a 20-band, 12-hour Rock the Rovers concert which netted £10,000, and a sponsored walk billed as A Raith Against Time, which generated a further £5,000, thanks to countless individual efforts.

Celebrity backing has come from famous Fifers, including ‘Rebus’ author Ian Rankin and painter Jack Vettriano while Coldplay – whose bass player Guy Berryman grew up in Kirkcaldy – have confirmed plans to stage a one-off concert at Stark’s Park next year.