AGM? Why Bother?

I had the option to go to the Hearts AGM today but I thought ‘what’s the point?’

Romanov now owns 82% of the shares, so he can basically pass any motion he likes and rubber stamp it without anyone else’s
permission. And even if he did need a majority of those attending to help him out, I have little doubt that they would do so as the majority of fans still seem to be strangely brainwashed by the club’s owners. No-one ever seems to openly oppose anything that they do with the club, or even seriously question it.

Romanov is expected to pass a motion to increase Hearts’ borrowing limit to £40 million, which is apparently to help finance the re-development of Tynecastle. Perhaps the prospect of Tynecastle being complete in the near future is what is preventing people from opposing VR. They maybe think that this single action alone shows that he is ‘here for the long haul’ and is intent on making Hearts a force again. And if he gets the permission to extend his borrowing and DOESN’T go ahead with the re-development, then that’s when people will turn. I can just about understand that, even if it’s not completely my own feeling on the situation.

The big worry for me is how does he propose to recoup these massive sums of money? Some are saying not to worry about the debt, because ‘we’ll never see it again – it’ll be lost in his empire – we don’t have debt any more’! But I’m afraid in my case I can’t help but worry about this, especially if for whatever reason, VR does decide it’s best for him to move on. He’s not just going to write off the debt and take a loss is he?

Perhaps I’m being overly pessimistic and VR will indeed turn the whole club around, with the new main stand at Tynecastle being the start of a new dawn that doesn’t become false within six months. But please forgive me if I need a little bit more convincing on that in the months ahead!