Reputations on the line after Hearts PR disaster

Published Date: 28 June 2011
By Alan Pattullo
ONLY at Hearts. Only at Hearts could sympathy for the club be so quickly exchanged with revulsion. The Scottish Football Association's recent decision to impose a record fine of £100,000 on the club for a disciplinary record which had significantly improved on the previous season saw most nodding their head in agreement with their aggrieved owner's decision to appeal.
Little more than a fortnight later and the club's name is being spat on for sport after their decision to retain player Craig Thomson was confirmed by Hearts on Friday, in inappropriately bullish fashion. One sponsor has already severed ties with the Tynecastle club. More could be set to follow as the reaction to the club's decision to retain the services of convicted sex offender Thomson intensified yesterday.

Thomson is from Bonnyrigg. The underage girls who were the victims of his lewd, libidinous and indecent behaviour are from the Edinburgh area. But this is far from being merely a local issue. Phone-ins on the subject of Thomson's retention by Hearts featured on two national networks yesterday: Radio Five Live and talkSport.

The story has leapt to the top of the news agenda since the Hearts board issued perhaps the most contentious statement ever associated with the club. Unusually, the statement was not attributed to club owner Vladimir Romanov, although its bizarre theme bore his hallmarks. Instead, four directors take responsibility for its dubious content.

It was a perfect demonstration of how not to deal with a public relations crisis. It was a masterpiece in how to make things worse - for the club, for the victims of the crime and for Thomson himself. There is likely to be further damage, as organisations and individuals consider their reputations.

On top of his apology on Friday, Thomson has now released another statement via his solicitor which pleads for Hearts fans and members of the wider public to "respect the judgment both of the court and Heart of Midlothian Football Club". But the judgment of the club has to be questioned after the announcement of the decision to retain Thomson was followed on Friday by a statement which attempted to pin the blame for the recent troubles Hearts players have had with the law on "outside influences". From this unpromising start the statement descended into lunacy, although it could not be laughed off.

Unbelievably, it is possible to be cautious when suggesting this is the most outlandish series of comments released in the name of Hearts. Romanov once referred to Graham Rix as a "hero" after he had been employed by Hearts after being convicted for having underage sex with a 15-year-old girl. Romanov added that he believed Rix had been 'tricked' into believing the girl was older than she was. The Russian-born owner appeared to relish the rumpus that was caused. Even the club's own supporters staged protests outside Tynecastle. When the controversy had died down somewhat he sacked Rix, for apparently football-related reasons. He had got bored of championing this particular underdog. Another one in Thomson has presented itself. Romanov seems again moved to court public disapproval.

At the time of his offence, Rix worked for Chelsea. Indeed, the offence occurred on the night prior to a league match with Manchester United, while the players and coaches stayed over at a London hotel.

It is worth recalling that Rix was kept on by Chelsea after his release from jail before eventually being hired by Hearts, via spells as manager of Portsmouth and Oxford United.

There was always going to be outrage at their decision to allow Thomson to continue playing at the club. However, it was compounded by another contentious call.

You can only imagine how the spirits of those detailed to deal with website content must have sank as they were ordered to make sure the crazed statement of Friday evening was made available for general consumption. Its implications are still unravelling but among the initial consequences is the decision of one major sponsor, the flavour water company MacB, to pull out of a deal with the club.

The impact on employees at Hearts must also be considered. Nearly every major media organisation in Britain contacted the club yesterday in search of comment and an explanation those in situ at the press office were simply not able to provide.

Then there is David Southern. The club's highly respected managing director has a marketing background and must have known Romanov, or, we are led to believe, his board of directors had penned something akin to a series of suicide notes on Friday, with what was a ham-fisted attempt - with its misguided talk of unspecified "mitigating circumstances" - to defend the indefensible. If there are genuinely mitigating circumstances, they have been kept well hidden.

Southern must have anticipated with dread the damage to the club's image, the potential effect on season ticket sales and the likely reaction from sponsors, but would be powerless to prevent the inevitable. The suppliers of the club's bottled water did not need long to formulate their response. By yesterday morning, MacB had withdrawn from a deal worth £5,000 to the club.

Others could follow, and the issue will be on the minds of all official partners: wonga.com, Umbro, Clydesdale Bank, Erskine, betfair, Thomas Cook, Marriott, Carling, Saab, ESPN, David Lloyd - and Ubig.

The decision to liken those who aim to make financial profit from players to paedophiles was an error of judgment too gross to recover from. Given the crime for which one of their players had just been convicted, it was outrageous to employ such a word when making so wild an accusation. Again, it reads as though the club are actively seeking to upset their loyal fanbase, not simply inform them. These supporters were entitled to expect a detailed justification for the club's stance with regard to Thomson. Instead they were given a poor attempt at a red herring. Rarely can a football club have shown such disdain to its lifeblood.

Taken from the Scotsman