Tynecastle players assured wages will be paid early this week

PHIL JOHNSON
HEARTS moved quickly in an attempt to counter suspicion about a cash-flow problem by insisting that their players will be paid in the next day or two following the "technical hitch" which prevented wages being processed last week.
Concerns were raised on Friday when the players' weekly wages did not arrive via Ukio Bankas, the Lithuanian bank controlled by Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov. Failure to pay wages on time is often the first sign of financial trouble at a football club – or any business for that matter – and a similar 'technicality' at Gretna preceded the club's demise. Hearts' last audited accounts disclosed net debt of £36.25 million – July's approval of a debt-for-equity conversion will reduce it by £12 million – but at the end of a week of turmoil in the international markets and the onset of a global banking crisis, the wage delay, according to the club, is nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence.

"There was a technical reason for the wages not being paid (on Friday]," said a spokesperson for Hearts, "and I'm assured they'll be paid at the beginning of next week. It was reported the players hadn't been paid for a month, but that is not the case. The players are paid on a weekly basis. The funds are there, they have just not been processed yet."

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo attempted to make light of the problem by claiming he knew nothing about it. "I must ask the players, I don't know," he said. "I work only for the football. What is behind is not my (responsibility]."

Captain Christophe Berra said the players have all been assured that wages will be paid in full early this week. "We've been told it's a technical hitch and the money will be coming next week," he said after Saturday's victory over Inverness. "The way I look at it, we won today so that's more money we are owed for a win bonus.

"We'll definitely get it. It's a technical hitch and it's nothing to worry about. We've been assured we'll definitely get it next week and I take the people who told us at their word.

"It's the first time it's ever happened and let's hope it's the last. We're professional, so we train all week and all that matters is a Saturday afternoon. We went out there and everyone has worked extremely hard and showed great character, and we got the three points. That's all that matters."

Taken from the Scotsman