"They are a terrific bunch of guys, I can understand their frustration and have been trying to keep them informed of my progress."

The players had been paid part wages for April and none since then by the holding company.

Brown will be meeting with the players again on Friday in an attempt to defuse the row that led to players' representative Jim Sherry to go public with a threat not to start pre-season training.

Airdrie United appear to have turned to homeless Clydebank as their main takeover targets after being beaten by Gretna in this week's vote for admission to the Scottish Football League.

But a bid for neighbours Hamilton is another option and, while the Bankies' fans have vowed to fight Airdrie's proposal, Brown is open to an approach.

"My priority is to solve the long-term situation at Hamilton and I would step aside instantly if anyone came in with enough money," he said.

"They would soon realise that there is much more potential in Hamilton than moving the club to Airdrie.

"We had average gates of 2000 here last season, which was the biggest in the Second Division."

The new interim chief executive had originally hoped to buy out one director to gain control of Hamilton but now says that the finances are so problematical that the club's holding company must be purchased as a whole.

He has thus been forced to seek more outside investors.

Brown was therefore heading down the same road as Livingston, Dunfermline Athletic, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle by investigating ways of using their land for property development.

Kilmarnock have built a hotel next to their stadium, Dunfermline and Livingston are in the process of following suit, while student residencies were built behind one of Thistle's stands.