City pulls out of joint stadium plan with financially-troubled Hearts

Published on Wednesday 14 December 2011 00:00

TROUBLED football club Heart of Midlothian has been dealt a major blow after it emerged Edinburgh City Council is unwilling to build a joint stadium with them.

The Scotsman can reveal that the local authority has backed away from the prospect of pursuing a shared “community stadium” with the SPL club two months after it emerged secret talks had been held over the idea.

Vladimir Romanov’s club, where players have suffered repeated wage delays, will be told to pursue a new stadium on their own despite pleas for the council to strike up a “formal partnership”.

Senior councillors have admitted the club’s chances of striking a formal deal with the council have been damaged by adverse publicity over its financial affairs.

They have also ruled out further taxpayers’ money being used to help Hearts find a new stadium, although council officers will be on hand to advise on suitable sites, particularly those on green belt land, which are likely to face a prolonged planning battle.

A joint £30,000 study, partly paid for by the council, had warned that redeveloping the club’s existing Tynecastle stadium was “not a viable option”, and recommended that a detailed business case for a new stadium be drawn up with the council.

However, the local authority, which has come under fire from city rivals Hibs amid allegations of bias and favouritism towards Hearts, has stopped well short of backing a shared stadium. The council admitted last month that it would be expected to bankroll any shared stadium, with Hearts merely acting as tenant.

Now Hearts are expected to be told to carry out any further work on a new stadium themselves, when councillors discuss the idea for the first time next week. The council is also expected to continue giving the club advice from officials and consider a possible land-swap should the club find a suitable site for a stadium that the local authority owns.

However the city’s economic development leader has raised concerns over Mr Romanov’s recent valuation of the Tynecastle ground at £25 million and said any new development on the site would face significant planning hurdles.

Tom Buchanan said: “We simply cannot afford to get formally involved in a project like this in the current climate. If the club is looking to enter into any kind of formal partnership to get a new stadium built it will have to be with another party.

“The one thing we could potentially do is look at some kind of land swap if the club finds an alternative site that is owned by the council. However, I certainly do not agree with Mr Romanov’s recent valuation of Tynecastle. The site has a number of planning constraints and health and safety issues that would affect any new development there.

“The big problem is that I cannot see the council entering into any kind of partnership with a football club that is not paying its own staff at the moment. It has certainly not help their case with the council at the moment.”

No-one from Hearts was available for comment.

However, an official statement last month from the club said there was a “quantifiable need” for a new community stadium in west Edinburgh, adding that it was prepared to participate in a “strong partnership” with the council.

Taken from the Scotsman