Former Irish League star believes Cliftonville officials right to prioritise club's long-term future in takeover talks

In April, the North Belfast club’s members voted in favour of the Toronto Investment Group’s (TIG) takeover led by Canadian businessmen Ron Davidson, John Muffolini and Drew Green alongside former Irish League star Conor Devine, who is a Belfast-based financier.

TIG delivered a message to Cliftonville supporters on the club’s website at the time stating their desire to “over the coming weeks conclude this transaction”, but the takeover’s status had been thrown into doubt over recent weeks.

Members once again met for an Extraordinary General Meeting earlier this month where it was agreed to continue formal negotiations.

Chairman Kieran Harding followed up with an update, saying “clear gaps and outstanding issues” still needed to be resolved before the investment could be accepted.

Major enjoyed a hugely successful playing career with Portadown, where he won four Irish League titles, and believes it’s right the powers-that-be protect Cliftonville’s future by doing their due diligence.

"I think people are frustrated and that’s only natural, but if I was a Cliftonville fan, the board have a responsibility to do the right thing for the long-term interests of the football club,” said Major on BBC Sportsound. “What nobody wants is a takeover to come in and for it to not go through the right protocols and down the line the club is in jeopardy.

"If the board are being cautious, I actually quite like that. They have to get it right because it’s their long-term future.

"I think what happens sometimes in these takeovers is both sides need to sign non-disclosure agreements and there’s very little information in the public domain.

"The challenge with that is people who don’t know will put their own information into the public domain and it may not always be factual.

"I think it takes time. The frustration for fans is they would have hoped it happened before the transfer window closed so Jim (Magilton) and Gerard (Lyttle) could have worked to bring in those quality players.

"At the end of the day, people will realise at Cliftonville that if they want to challenge these full-time clubs in the league they will need to be full-time and sometimes it just takes a bit of time.

"I'm probably of the view that if they are taking their time and looking to do it right, that’s a good thing because they are protecting the long-term future of their club.”

It’s an exciting time for Cliftonville, who are in line to receive £11.8million from the NI Football Fund to redevelop their Solitude base while boss Jim Magilton recently signed a new three-year contract extension.

If the takeover is finalised, it would allow Magilton’s men to become the fifth full-time Premiership team, following Linfield, Larne, Glentoran and Coleraine as they look to consistently challenge for major honours.