‘People think we are all millionaires – we’re not, we are normal people with the same money worries as anyone else’

Published on Sunday 11 December 2011 04:54

The unpaid Hearts players are on the verge of walking out. They tell Moira Gordon of their anger and frustration

HEARTS players have lashed out at Scottish fooball’s governing bodies and claimed that the country is sitting back and watching as owner Vladimir Romanov effectively treats them as slave labour devoid of rights and sympathy.

At the end of last month public sector workers staged a walk-out over changes to their pension agreements. By that stage Hearts players had already worked for six weeks without pay and, five days before their December wage is due, they are still awaiting November’s payment. Yet they don’t have the right to strike. They say they have had to sit tight, turn up at training and for matches knowing that they could pick up an injury which would leave them in limbo. With the club advising them that money is still tight, they have had to fend off banks and other creditors and worry about Christmas.

“Anywhere else in the world, if it was anyone other than footballers, the authorities would have stepped in by now. There would have been an uproar. But because we are footballers those normal rules don’t apply. People think we are all millionaires – we’re not, we are normal people with the same money worries and commitments as anyone else and we are under a lot of stress just now.”

The players accept that their trade union, PFA Scotland, has done all it can but have accused the governing bodies of hiding behind what are self-imposed regulations and rules and leaving them blowing in the wind.

“They have hung us out to dry,” said one angry spokesman for the squad of players who are now planning on taking their battle to FIFA. “We asked them to meet with us but they wouldn’t because they said it might cloud their judgment if there was a future complaint or legal action but we just wanted advice and wanted to know what they could do to help us if we did make a complaint.

“We didn’t want to go to them if all it was going to do was let [club owner Vladimir] Romanov know who was involved in making the complaint because we all know he’s not the most reasonable if you go up against him and he doesn’t always play by the same rules as everyone else. I don’t know what they could do but as far as we can tell by statements they have made to the media, there’s no guarantee they can do anything.”

The Tynecastle first-team squad came close to sending a formal complaint to the SPL last month but having been urged by manager Paulo Sergio to drop the action, they went as far as ripping up the signed document, fearing reprisals from their Lithuanian bosses and, in particular, an owner who has not been slow to lash out at dissenters in the past. The next day they received their October wage, albeit 19 days late. The November wage remains unpaid, despite the December pay being due this Friday.

“We now think it will take one of the boys to walk out of the club and as far as we are concerned we all become free agents and can walk out of the club on January 14,” added the player. “We wish this had never happened, we wish it was all over by now but now that it has gone on this long, I think most of us are genuinely hoping they don’t pay us before then because we just want out. I don’t want to stay and neither do a lot of the boys and if we would walk out now if we could. But if I do then there is a chance they could take me to court for breach of contract. But if we wait the 90 days then we can take the fight to FIFA and hopefully they will agree that we can terminate our contracts and walk away for nothing. We just want this to be over.”

The player insisted that the players have tried to maintain professional standards in training and in matches but stressed that the uncertainty and the anxiety being experienced by their families was now beginning to take their mental toll. “It just grinds you down and it’s not fair on us or the fans who are still paying their money,” said the player. “There is no way they should be allowed to get away with this and in any other walk of life, other than football, they wouldn’t be able to. But the SPL and SFA have just sat back and watched it happen, they have done nothing. Instead, it will be left to the players to take legal action to sort out something that they should have been doing something about a long time ago.

“It’s their league, we are their players and it is going to have an impact on the whole league if we do walk away but still they say there is nothing they can do. They won’t even meet us to discuss the situation.

“People think that footballers are privileged and in some ways we are. Yes, we get to play football but boys still want to be able to pay bills and those with families want to be able to provide for them.

“I watched other people go on strike the other week but we can’t do that. The boys have all been talking and we had a few ideas but we can’t do anything that will come back on us. We are the ones not being paid but we have to keep our noses clean. We can’t strike because they would use that against us at any tribunal and claim we were in breach of our contracts. Maybe that’s what they want.”

Romanov wants to sell the club he values at £50 million and has made it known that the squad are all up for sale but the players say that he is dealing in fantasy figures.

“If they want rid of us, that’s fine, they just need to make the transfer fees more realistic. They say we are all worth at least £1m but that’s rubbish. They say they want rid of the higher earners and want a big-clear-out when the transfer window opens but no-one is going to pay the money they want. They will be lucky to get rid of one or two for a fee. They would be better to make it £100,000 and they could get rid of a dozen of us and we would go willingly. Then they would have a smaller squad and have taken in some money. But when you think about it, why should Hearts get any money for a player they haven’t even been paying?”

He added that while those affected felt that the union and the media had done as much as they could to try to support the players’ in their fight, they had expected the authorities to wade in before now.

“We really needed the SPL or SFA to help us but they have done nothing. They are supposed to be responsible for football in this country and they have refused to get involved. It’s a joke. I wonder what it would take for them to take some action. Do boys need to have their houses repossessed? Does someone need a doctor’s line saying they are suffering from stress and depression because all this is taking its toll? Do we need someone to get seriously injured or have to risk going public with a complaint and risk our careers stalling for a couple of years because we get dropped and have to train with the kids? Or do they want us to breach our contracts and go on strike because then it will affect the league fixtures and then they will step in?

“The SPL would soon get involved if we weren’t fulfilling fixtures or the club wasn’t up to date with payments to other clubs, but when it comes to players not having their contracts honoured they sit on their hands. Boys have families and they are worried sick about how they are going to get through Christmas but the football authorities, who we thought had some kind of duty of care, have hung us out to dry. That has shocked us. It’s funny because if we step out of line on the field they are quick enough to come and tap us on the shoulder and the compliance officer is ready to pounce on people for bringing the game into disrepute. But what do they call this? It’s embarrassing for all of Scottish football.

“Whether you are on £2 a week or £2,000 a week, there are bills to pay. Some boys have already missed mortgage or car repayments and by the time we can walk away in January, we will be lucky if no-one has had their house seized by the bank. It’s a massive worry and the fact that the SPL and SFA have done so little is a disgrace.

“In any other profession if you weren’t paid you could walk away but we can’t. Our contracts don’t allow that… yet. In the meantime we are tied to Romanov and this club. Everyone makes a big thing about fair trade and civil rights but we are like Romanov’s slaves, we are his property while we are under contract. But no-one should be allowed to get away with not paying people. We haven’t been paid since our October wage and although I don’t know how most of us will cope, I hope we don’t get paid again before we are free to walk away in January. Like a lot of the boys, I just want out. I just wish it didn’t have to happen this way.”

Taken from the Scotsman