By Andrew Warshaw
June 14 – In the same week that Scottish football announced ground-breaking plans to preserve its future, crisis-torn SPL club Heart of Midlothian have been plunged into yet more turmoil with the threat of going out of business.
The iconic Edinburgh club, whose parent company are Lithuanian-based, are £25m in debt and are battling to stay afloat with season-ticket sales drying up amid fears the management may not be able to pay players’ wages.
As a result, the entire first-team squad have been put up for sale.
SPL chief Neil Doncaster says the league will not be able to bail the club out. “It’s always disappointing when any SPL club faces financial stresses and we are continuing to monitor the situation very closely,” said Doncaster. “The SPL has very clear rules about what fees are provided to clubs and when. Those rules are absolutely being complied with.
“There is no slush fund that exists to loan extra money to any one club. The fees are divided up between all of the 12 clubs according to the rules. It is very difficult to favour any one club over any other and the rules are therefore very clear about what we can and can’t do.”
The Edinburgh club are still battling the threat of a winding-up order lodged by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs over a £100,000 tax bill, although a majority of that sum has been paid.
Hearts managing director David Southern, with considerable understatement, said: “We’re not in a good place at the moment and we’re just going to have to try to get through the situation and reach the start of the season, when the income streams will hopefully start flowing again.”
In a statement, the club added: “It is now crucial to the football club that we find a solution to bring in enough finance to allow us to trade into the new season when normal trading can resume with the benefit of SPL and game-related income streams.”
Earlier this week Scottish Football League clubs voted in favour of a proposed merger with the SPL to form a new Scottish Professional Football League in time for next season, averting a threatened breakaway from Division One clubs. A revised financial distribution model will be introduced, feeding more money into the second tier, while playoffs will take place throughout the divisions under the new restructuring plan.
“We are joining their company, their organisation,” he explained. “They have swallowed us up. We could use nice words about it, but it is a takeover. It is very sad that the Scottish Football League has had to be a casualty but unfortunately we were left with one option. Did I want to see the end of the Scottish Football League? Absolutely not. Did I want to see football strive forward? Then yes. It will be for others to decide if this step takes us to where we want to go.”
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