St Kilda president Rod Butterss has challenged the club's rival board ticket 'Footy First' to put up or shut up as the bid for control of the AFL club escalated on Thursday.
Butterss was speaking after the 'Footy First' group - led by trucking boss Greg Westaway and featuring former players Nathan Burke and Andrew Thompson as well as a member of the current Saints' board in John Gdsanski - filed a motion for an extraordinary general meeting on November 12 in which they will bid to oust five of the current seven Saints' board members - including Butterss.
But Butterss fired back on Thursday - declaring he and the rest of the board would walk away and hand control of the club to Westaway if the rebel ticket could come up with a better plan for the club and one which would be approved by the AFL.
However, AFL spokesman Patrick Keane told Sportal on Thursday that the league would only become involved if both parties agreed, saying otherwise it was not the league's place to become involved in club-internal matters.
Butterss said if the 'Footy First' group did not agree to submit its plans to the AFL it should walk away and allow the current board to get on with the job of running the club.
While acknowledging the Westaway board ticket was under no obligation to accede to his request - it could merely wait until the EGM and hope to win the support of enough members to oust Butterss - the Saints' president said it would be the best way of ensuring the future of the club was in good hands.
"It is the job of the current board to evaluate any takeover bid and to make a recommendation to the members," Butterss said on Thursday.
"(So) we will request the AFL to assist us to provide an independent evaluation of the plans of the rebel group."
Butterss added that 'no evaluation process is possible unless and until the rebel group provides details of their plans'.
The rebel group is basing its attack on the club's failure to reach the finals for the first time in four years this year - saying it is the result of a lack of spending on the club's football department.
However, Butterss challenged the rebel ticket on Thursday to say where the additional spending on football will occur, how much extra will be spent and where that increased revenue will