A FORMER chairman of Scottish Premier League side Motherwell is at loggerheads with one of his successors over the future of Scotland.
Last week, John Boyle, who chaired the club in the last decade, warned Scottish independence would be an "economic and social catastrophe". But yesterday businessman Bill Samuel insisted it was the only way to sustain Scotland's recovery.
Mr Boyle, one of Scotland's most influential business figures, said: "I am Scottish, live here and love the country but it would be an economic and social catastrophe of epic proportions to disengage with England and the Union."
In contrast, Mr Samuel, Motherwell chairman in the early 1980s, said: "The UK is verging on economic and social catastrophe today, particularly for those living outside London, many parts of which have experienced little of the austerity felt in Scotland and other parts of the UK.
"The people of Scotland will come to a crossroads in the autumn of 2014 when they will have to decide whether or not they wish to retain the status quo and continue to be the humble and subservient recipients of an annual hand-out from Westminster or they will take a new and exciting path and bravely pursue their own destiny."
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