SPL rules as Hearts make player payments

Graeme Macpherson
Football Writer

HEARTS last night reduced the prospect of being fined, docked points or worse by the Scottish Premier League after announcing they had belatedly paid their players their wages for December.

An SPL board sub-committee had met at Hampden earlier in the day to adjudicate in the dispute between 14 first-team players and the club regarding late payment of salaries for October and November, and the continued non-payment of monies for December.

The sub-commitee ordered Hearts to pay last month's salaries – due on December 16 – by next Wednesday as well as interest on the payments or face a range of sanctions. In a statement, the club revealed those salaries had been now paid 19 days late but insisted the timing had nothing to do with the SPL.

It read: "The payment is the result of successful business conducted by the club and it is coincidental this has happened on the same day as the adjudication by the SPL. It is thought the "successful business" relates to the sale of Icelander Eggert Jonsson to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Hearts could yet face sanctions if they do not pay their January salaries by the 16th of this month, as well as the claimants' legal expenses and the SPL's costs relating to yesterday's hearing. The players and the club have the right to appeal the decision to the Scottish Football Association within seven days.

Hearts have said they will "carefully consider today's SPL judication into the matter of late payment of players' wages and will decide on the course of further action".

If they fail to deliver on any of the outstanding criteria, Hearts could face disciplinary action – ranging from a fine, a docking of points, player registrations being cancelled, a transfer embargo being enforced, or even expulsion from the league.

"This afternoon's decision demonstrates how seriously the SPL take late payments of wages to players," said Neil Doncaster, the SPL's chief executive, prior to Hearts revealing they had paid December's wages. "I am not going to speculate about what might ultimately be the outcome in the event that any of those orders are not met in full. That would then be the subject of a separate process.

"We've made very clear orders about what needs to be paid and by when. In the event of any of those orders are not met in full that would come back to the SPL board to consider. We will be monitoring the situation very closely to see if those orders are met in full or not."

Fraser Wishart, the chief executive of PFA Scotland, represented the players in yesterday's hearing and was satisfied with the outcome. "We're happy that the SPL have supported the players with an order to ensure that December wages are paid and January wages are paid timeously," he said.

"We're reluctantly here, as we don't want to be taking cases to the SPL, particularly with Hearts where it's clear there are cashflow problems at the club. We tried to resolve it internally over October and November but when it came to December the players' patience ran out.

"Hearts are a member club of the SPL and when a directive is made they have to follow it. But we're not asking for the earth here. All we're asking for is that they pay their players on time."

Wishart hopes Hearts will try attempt to sell off their higher earners in the January transfer window to try to ease their financial situation. "We hope Hearts are able to sell the players they want to sell and get large transfer fees in. That would enable them to pay the players and their debts, which would be to our members' advantage."

Hearts first-team coach Gary Locke yesterday lauded the squad's spirit but is wary of an major player disposals. He said: "Things are looking good on the pitch, but hopefully we can get through January and keep all our good players. If we can do that hopefully we can go on to have a good season."

Meanwhile, Mehdi Taouil faces two to three weeks out with a hamstring injury.

Taken from the Herald