SPL cancel Hearts charge – but BBC are outraged.

David Southern and Sergejus Fedotovas are to be congratulated for presenting a clear case at the SPL hearing on Friday to show that Hearts acted in good faith in complying with the SPL instruction to pay January wages on the 16th.

Chief Executive Neil Doncaster gave a fairly sensible interview to BBC Scotland after the hearing – yet, the interviewer persisted in trying to claim that since wages were not in players` bank accounts by midnight on the 16th, then this surely meant that Hearts were in breach. Doncaster stood firm, reminding listeners that the remit of the SPL was to restore normal wage payments at Hearts by January – which is what happened. I didn`t catch who the interviewer was, but his tone and questioning betrayed the editorial line of the programme – “Never mind if football is in a financial crisis, Hearts need to be punished for having their own financial crisis”.

Back in the studio, pundit Billy Dodds and guest player John Rankin sat on the fence as to whether the SPL were right to drop the charge – but both decided that it was “almost certain” that February wages would be late, and the SPL would have to intervene again.
Dodds is usually one of the insightful commentators on BBC Sportsound, yet this remark seemed to me to be just mischief-making. How could Dodds possibly know what is going on at Hearts in terms of future funding ?

I didn`t listen to Sportsound yesterday, but it would be entertaining to hear Chick Young defend his view that Hearts should have points deducted for their “outrageous behaviour”. I will certainly make a point of listening to these esteemed commentators if the HMRC case against Rangers results in a hefty tax bill being awarded – will the Ibrox club have acted in the utmost good faith towards the SPL and other member clubs by spending the money on players instead of paying their taxes ? Will Dodds and Young be heard seething with anger over the outrageous behaviour of their favourites ?

Meanwhile, will the media have noticed that the “firesale” of players which they claimed was required to save Hearts from administration has not happened ? 2 first team regulars (Jonsson and Stevenson) have been sold for decent money, and 2 fringe players (Balogh and Elliot) have left early with some compensations – I`d hardly call that a “firesale”.

I`m glad to see that Jamie McDonald has agreed a 2-year contract extension. He was reported in a newspaper a few months ago as saying that wage delays would be a decisive factor in deciding his future – so we can perhaps take his new contract as a sign that someone in authority had spoken positively about the future wage funding.

It seems that Hearts have actively searched for a club to buy Ryan Stevenson, with a sale to Ipswich Town being reported at £50,000. Although I liked Ryan, it was clear that he had lost faith in Hearts as a reliable employer – so getting him off the wage bill plus a transfer fee received is probably a piece of wise business. More importantly, let`s hope this opens up the opportunity to put Rudi Skacel on a new contract !!