Hearts continue to pay the penalty

For the 2nd week in a row, the unpaid players at Hearts can consider themselves unfortunate to have suffered a one-goal defeat – although a missed penalty in each game is really down to poor technique rather than bad luck.

Any defeat at Parkhead isn`t anything remarkable – so Paulo Sergio`s positive comments on the team performance in Saturday`s narrow 1-0 loss stand out even more considering the off-field turmoil which must be causing a distraction to the players.

With some players having only received a late partial payment of November`s salary, they must all be wondering what December`s pay packet will contain. A report at the weekend quoted an un-named payer as saying that many will tear up their contracts in mid-January, on the basis of some FIFA employment laws. Although this sounds extremely worrying, it`s possibly less harmful to the club (and fans) than a player strike – which could attract an SPL points penalty. With Hearts only 8 points off the bottom of the SPL, a points reduction could condemn Hearts to the First Division.

The media report also says Hearts players are dismayed that the SPL won`t intervene – yet the SPL are quoted as saying that they need to be asked first. So presumably the players have given consideration to this, and decided not to make a formal request to the SPL.

So it looks like only 2 outcomes are possible here –

1) Hearts could rectify the situation by paying everyone up to date by the end of December, and offer some confidence that 2012 will be smooth.

2) A mass contract “rip-up” in January will mean some “saleable” players leave for nothing. They could then take legal action against the club to recover their lost wages. Would Hearts dare to start counter-actions against the players for a perceived breach on their part ? Either way, the fallout would be messy, costly and embarrassing.


The first looks unlikely. Hearts may genuinely have a cash-flow problem due to paying HMRC a huge sum in October, but the regime only have themselves to blame for not factoring this in – very poor accounting and budgeting practice.

The sheer unprofessionalism and contempt for decency which has been shown recently, combined with earlier periods of unwise and uncontrolled overspend, will be the main legacy of the Romanov years.

New Director of Football John Murray has an impossible task trying to convince a small number of “select” first-team players to extend their contracts at Tynecastle against this ridiculous backdrop. And which player would view a move to Hearts now as a sensible step up the football ladder ?
Is George Foulkes really speaking to UAE royalty about investing in Hearts ? There was a time not so long ago when this news would have got me excited. Unfortunately, it would now take a free donation of £40m from outside just to get us back to square one. Any other “investment” arrangement is simply perpetuating the slow death of the club.