Four bids were tabled for the shipyard on Thursday, with Greenock businessmen Sandy and James Easdale then pulling out of the running yesterday afternoon.

First Minister Alex Salmond has told the Tele he is ‘confident’ the yard will be saved.

Mr Salmond came to the yard yesterday to meet some of the 70 workers who were axed a week beforehand, when the company plunged into administration.

Despite the dire circumstances and uncertainty surrounding the future of Ferguson’s, the First Minister said the meeting was one of the ‘most optimistic’ he has ever been involved in.

And he revealed that he expects a preferred bidder for the yard to be announced by administrators KPMG early next week after four firm offers were made.

Clyde Blowers supremo Jim McColl is in pole position to take over, with two other mystery bidders still in the running.

Mr Salmond said: “This is not finished yet, not a done deal, there’s a few days of anxiety that remain but we are in an incomparably better position this weekend than we were last weekend.

“Under the circumstances of anxiety of folk being made redundant this is a great workforce and that was a very, very optimistic meeting.

“In these circumstances it was probably the most optimistic meeting I’ve ever experienced.” Asked whether the Scottish Government would be prepared to step in and save the yard if it came to it, Mr Salmond said he had ‘ruled nothing out’, but added: “We should have every confidence or every optimism that there is going to be a commercial bid.” The First Minister was also quizzed on revelations that the former owner of Ferguson’s — Greenock millionaire Alan Dunnet — sold the land and assets months before the yard plunged into administration.

It means that the new owners could have to rent the yard back from Mr Dunnet’s firm Holland House.

But Mr Salmond said he was ‘not surprised to learn’ about that and believes it would not jeopardise a rescue package.

He said: “I’ve got no reason whatsoever to believe — in fact I know — that that particular transaction is not a complication in terms of securing the future of shipbuilding on this site.

“I’ve spoken to the stewards who know more about these things than anybody here and they are convinced that that gentleman wants to see shipbuilding continue.

“I think we should look upon any transaction in that light.” After the Tele revealed on Thursday how government ministers knew about the troubles at Ferguson’s for eight months, Mr Salmond maintains that keeping that fact from workers was the right thing to do.

He said: “The company should inform their workforce but you’ll understand the government cannot divulge discussions with individual companies — as soon as we did that it would sink the company.

“If we said ‘look a company has come to us because they are in trouble’ then the company would be finished, so it would be daft to think and do that.

“My own position is that the best run companies take the workforce into their confidence and that’s the best way to run things.” On the subject of more CalMac contracts for Ferguson’s in the future, the First Minister said: “We’ll go through the correct processes at all times, as you would expect, but we’ve had discussions and we are determined to support this yard in any way we possibly can.” He added: “This yard needs investment so it can broaden the scope of the work and this yard of course is well placed to bid for Scottish contracts but this yard should be internationally competitive.” Finance minister John Swinney will be in Greenock on Monday to chair another meeting of the special taskforce which has been set up to try and save the yard.