Stuart Bathgate: Player sale may be only option as Hearts try to fund next wages bill

Published on Thursday 19 January 2012 02:29

THE SPL’s decision to proceed with disciplinary action agaunst Hearts has mystified staff at Tynecastle who know how much effort went into securing the money to pay players their January salaries.

It has also heightened their concerns about what the governing body might do in future months – when, they fear, finding that money will prove a lot harder.

When the players received their December salaries on 4 January, just hours after the SPL had told the club to pay up within a week or face action, it came as no surprise to them. And they certainly did not think it was a sign that club owner Vladimir Romanov was bowing to pressure from the league. The money had come in thanks to Eggert Jonsson’s transfer to Wolves, and they had known for a few days that payment was imminent.

Similarly, when they got their January money on Monday – or at least when Hearts pressed the button to authorise payments on Monday – it was what they had expected. Director Sergejus Fedotovas had told them the funds would be there to pay them on time, and they knew that he had been working to secure those funds since the previous month – in other words before it was known that Jonsson’s move south would raise £200,000.

As Romanov’s placeman at the club Fedotovas is by no means universally liked, but staff appreciate that in this instance he is doing his best in difficult circumstances. Since Romanov announced last autumn that he was putting the club up for sale and would henceforth insist on its paying its own way, Fedotovas has had to work quickly to try to ensure some sort of orderly downscaling. It has not been an easy task, but so far he has carried it out in a reasonably efficient fashion.

But now that the Jonsson money is gone, as are the funds Fedotovas raised last month, keeping order will prove that much harder. Hearts have insisted that there will be no fire sale, that they will not let players go on the cheap, but they did hope for a livelier transfer market during this window than has so far been the case. Manager Paulo Sergio has been preparing for some time to integrate a number of players from the club’s successful under-19 squad into the first team, but so far he has not needed to do so.

Jonsson has gone, and Ryan Stevenson remains a refusenik, having withdrawn his services late last year in protest at the late payment of wages. But everyone else is still there, including Rudi Skacel, who has already been in talks about extending his current contract, which runs out at the end of the month.

After his hat-trick heroics against St Mirren at the weekend, Hearts supporters will be happy for Skacel to stay a little longer. And, with the team back up to an impressive third in the league after winning five of their last six matches and drawing the other, those supporters will hope that the current squad remains more or less intact when the window closes.

But if it does so, it may be at a heavy price. Because without more sales, Hearts will run the risk of falling behind in their payments again, and of again incurring the wrath of the SPL.

To most employees at Hearts, including the players, the payment of salaries on Monday went as normal. The money was released by the club in the afternoon, it cleared into some accounts that evening, and if others had to wait until the morning, well, that was always the case.

When payments have been delayed by weeks, as they were for the previous three months,what was the problem about a few hours? As former chairman Les Deans said last night, receving a draconian punishment for making a slightly late payment is “like being banned for driving for two years if you’re caught doing 31 miles an hour”.

The SPL, however, appear to think it is important to put a marker down now. If Romanov gets away with making payments a few hours late, they reason, he may try to stretch a point next month and delay by a couple of days – then weeks the next time and who knows?

Having issued their instructions on 4 January, they are insisting that Hearts comply with the letter of the law. At worst the club may only have been guilty of a minor, technical breach, but the governing body can use that breach as a test case.

A minor breach may be met with a minor or suspended punishment, conditional on future good behaviour. No points deduction this time, for example, but a punishment along those lines should the alleged offence recur this season.

That, at least, is what Hearts staff fear. The SPL may see the January salaries being processed in the afternoon and deduce that Romanov could have paid them in the morning but for his eagerness to cock a snook at the authorities. The people at Tynecastle see the payments being made and conclude that the hard work by Fedotovas and other employees had paid off. And they know that next time, that hard work may not be enough.

Taken from the Scotsman