Mercer pledges a further £500,000 to Hearts' cause

ian paul

8 Mar 1993

HEARTS chairman Wallace Mercer has committed more of his wealth to securing the club's position with the bank.

The man who has been criticised by the Tynecastle fans, not to mention the manager, has pledged a further £500,000 of his own wealth as collateral for the club's overdraft.

He now is guarantor for £1m, and his mansion in Edinburgh is also up for grabs in the unlikely event of the doomsday scenario prevailing.

However, the club's 2-0 win over Falkirk at the weekend, which put them into a Scottish Cup semi-final meeting with Rangers, has helped every aspect of Hearts' ambitions for the rest of the season.

The attendances at Tynecastle, which have gone down from an average 16,000 to 10,200, have not aided the financial problems which they, like every football club bar Rangers, are enduring in the recession, and Mercer pointed out that the club lost money in the cup quarter-final win over Falkirk.

The attendance of 12,721 did not cover the cost of overheads, players' bonuses, etc.

"That was why it was so important for us to get into the semi-finals," said Mercer.

"The players and manager have done the job and they can be assured that they have secured everyone at the club for the rest of the season."

Mercer also implied that the guarantee of the semi-final, with the possibility of reaching the final, will mean the retention of players who might interest other clubs, like Alan McLaren.

If he was a happy soldier yesterday, that was his right in the circumstances.

Manager Joe Jordan managed a smile or two as well, if you looked closely.

"It means we have two avenues open to get into Europe," he said, "and anything can happen in a semi-final."

Jordan reasonably points out that some team will beat Rangers some time and that it might as well be his.

"The best team wins the league, but you need a wee bit of luck in the cup as it is a one-off situation.

We have had our ups and downs, but we have a chance now to achieve something this season."

The same cannot be said for Aberdeen's Eoin Jess, who suffered cruel luck when his ankle was broken during the 1-1 draw with Clydebank.

The striker, who has made an explosive impact on the game this season, will be lucky to be playing again before the end of the season.

That will mean the end of his contribution to Aberdeen's twin targets, the title and, more realistically, the cup.

And it will be just as big a disappointment for Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, who has seen the young man emerge as a genuine international talent.

Jess will be missing from the side for the friendly against Germany but, more importantly, the World Cup qualifying game against Portugal next month.

Roxburgh, who was as excited as everybody else by the display of the Aberdeen player in his two appearances for his country, against Italy and Malta, said: "Eoin is a gifted player and it is desperately unfortunate that he has suffered this injury.

"However, we cannot afford to be excessively pessimistic about this.

Eoin will be back and his aim must now be our first World Cup tie of next season, against Switzerland in September.

"I feel sorry for Eoin and Aberdeen, who have lost an inspirational player.

The third element is Scotland and his loss is very frustrating.

But that's the nature of the business with the Scotland team.

You have to learn to deal with it."

Aberdeen's misfortune is compounded further by an injury to their other exciting young player, Scott Booth, who was hurt after he replaced Jess.

Booth was carried off with a severe calf injury and is doubtful for the premier division match against Hibernian at Easter Road on Tuesday.

The extent of his injury will not be known until today.

Manager Willie Miller will be anxious to have him back in time for the cup replay at Kilbowie Park a week tomorrow when his team will be given a tough night's work by the first division side.

The winners will go through to a semi-final against Hibernian.

Whatever happens, the possibility of a Hearts-Hibs final has emerged from the weekend activities.

Now that would be a capital event.

Scottish Cup semi-final draw:

Rangers v Hearts; Hibernian v Aberdeen or Clydebank.

(Ties to be played on April 3 at venues yet to be decided.)

Taken from the Herald