HEARTS fans are set to ditch their protests against Chris Robinson during Sunday’s league clash against Celtic as it emerged the former chief executive is to miss the game on the advice of the club.

The SPL visit of the champions would have been Robinson’s final home match as a director - he is to resign at the end of the season - but following discussions with senior club officials, he has decided to stay away as the Jambos bring the curtain down on their Tynecastle season.

Gorgie legend Gary Mackay has been an outspoken critic of Robinson and was appalled to learn that the man who sold out to Vladimir Romanov in February was involved in the decision to sack John Robertson as boss.

Earlier this week the former midfield star sent a rallying call to supporters, urging the Gorgie faithful to redouble their efforts to demonstrate against the continued presence of Robinson on the board.

Now, in light of the "Pie Man’s" decision not to attend Hearts’ last home game of the season, Mackay has done a dramatic U-turn and urged fans to ditch any protest plans.

"I had a brief conversation with chief executive Phil Anderton and the understanding I have is the former chief executive will not be attending the game against Celtic," he said. "Personally, I am delighted with this news and would now ask all Hearts supporters to unite and show our passion and commitment to the club during the Celtic match by getting right behind the team.

"Mr Romanov will hopefully be in attendance and it is important for us to show what Heart of Midlothian Football Club means to us."

Mackay, one of the driving forces behind the Save Our Hearts campaign which has been striving for the removal of Robinson from Tynecastle, added: "If Mr Robinson has decided that not attending Sunday’s game is the right thing to do then the final objective of Save Our Hearts has been achieved.

"He has attended his last home game for Hearts and I applaud Mr Romanov and the board for having allowed us to put our views across.

"When I asked the fans to protest on Sunday I wasn’t aware Mr Robinson was not going to be at the game and I am only too happy to make a U-turn on this.

"Mr Robinson’s decision not to go to the game will see the final nail delivered to his reign at Tynecastle."

Secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs John Bortwhick has indicated that any demos on Sunday would have been aimed at Robinson and not Romanov’s new regime. He said: "Any protests the fans were going to stage at the weekend game against Celtic at Tynecastle were going to be against Chris Robinson and his involvement in the decision-making process which saw John Robertson sacked.

"The demonstrations would not have been against the new regime led by Vladimir Romanov and I would now encourage supporters to drop plans to stage any protests."

Taken from the Scotsman