Mercer leaves £7.1m in will

WALLACE Mercer, the former Hearts chairman widely credited with saving the club from extinction, died leaving a £7.1million fortune to his wife and children.

His will, published this week, also reveals he owned just £180 worth of shares in the Tynecastle club.

Mercer, who died aged 59 in January this year after a short battle against cancer, bought Hearts in 1981 for £265,000, and sparked a dramatic resurgence in the Tynecastle club's fortunes during his colourful 13 years at the helm.

Under his stewardship the club won promotion back to the Premier Division and by 1986 they were challenging for the championship, only to lose out to Celtic on goal difference on the final day of the season.

His plan to buy-out Hibs in 1990 and merge the two Edinburgh clubs was met with hostility and Mercer decided to sell his stake in Hearts. It was bought in 1994 by Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans.

Mercer's will reveals he retained 600 shares valued at just £180. He left £7,129,211 to his wife Anne and two children Helen and Iain. The bulk of the legacy was his stake in his property business, Almondale Investments. The family inherited a £950,000 North Berwick flat, as well as two floors of a building near the Mound in Edinburgh city centre.

Taken from the Scotsman