Foundation of Hearts the best solution if Vladimir Romanov walks away

Vladimir Romanov still has the opportunity to leave the club in a better place than he found it seven years ago

Vladimir Romanov's legacy? The nature of it at Heart of Midlothian will be determined by the end of this season. The insistence that such a narrative is guaranteed to be negative towards the Lithuania-based businessman isn't yet entirely correct.

With Hearts' financial problems now well-documented as acute, the Foundation of Hearts – set up as a collaborative and connecting vehicle for supporter ownership – is on the verge of making its promising plans public. It is an altruistic non-profit-making body for any of those behind the Foundation and has been established by a group of serious members of the Edinburgh business community, who hold a variety of professional talents and are all Hearts supporters. It will be professional, representative and will endeavour to finally bring all the disparate Hearts fans groups under the one roof.

Far from being a hastily assembled scheme in reaction to the current predicament at Tynecastle, the Foundation has been in discussions with Hearts' foreign ownership for the best part of two years. The Foundation has understandably always wanted Hearts to agree to a deal before taking that mandate to the supporter base to raise funds.

Yet despite being in advanced talks, the club elected to go to the fans with their own share issue, thereby seeking to raise £1.79m. The concerns of some supporters over the scheme as administered by Hearts are demonstrated by the re-forming of the Save Our Hearts campaign as a fighting fund, rather than direct and promised source of share-buying cash.

Presciently, the Foundation predicted Hearts would need to be saved from the Romanov regime, which has offered merely the latest demonstration of how perilous football clubs sometimes are when controlled by one individual or potentially volatile group of companies. For some time, it has been apparent that the club cannot continue to operate in their present state. Only when Hearts are prised into a fresh, steady-handed scenario can they once again seek to prosper.

An opening, verbal offer for a way ahead was made by the Foundation to the Hearts ownership on Sunday and was followed up in writing. Sergejus Fedotovas, the Hearts director regarded as Romanov's right-hand man, is expected to address the bid when he returns to Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The Guardian has learned of the plan, which is feasible, detailed and affordable at a variety of levels. It will seek to stabilise the club's finances for the long term by using a membership scheme supplemented by other ideas currently being developed, including pitch ownership, which will involve fans worldwide.

In the course of its planning, the Foundation's board has garnered precisely the kind of financial information regarding Hearts that would be necessary for any potential owner. Pertinently, Hearts could be run and financed by their strongest asset, the fans, as early as March next year should Romanov walk away now.

The Foundation has sought to inherit a debt-free club, something Romanov has the capability to provide given the majority sums owed to his Ukio Bankas Investment Group. For those who question why Romanov would agree to such a deal, there is the prospect of that legacy being enhanced by him passing Hearts on to supporters. The club would look in stronger health than when he completed his takeover, seven years ago.

Whatever the controversial tycoon sought to achieve in Edinburgh, it hasn't come to fruition; not only at Hearts but in an ironic comparison the building in the city's St Andrew's Square, bought by Romanov for millions of pounds but untouched since.

Just as when Romanov stepped in to remove Hearts from the clutches of Chris Robinson, there is no legitimate prospect of a white knight providing a lucrative counter-bid.

It is in his defence that Romanov has spent millions of pounds at Tynecastle, and therefore suffered financially more than anyone else associated with the club, but also plainly true that far too much of that resource has been wasted. Hearts are one of few clubs in Scotland who should be fiscally sound, if operated within a sensible cost-base.

A wider, serious complication relates to a tax tribunal between Hearts and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, worth £1.75m plus potential penalties and interest. As things stand, the loss of that case for Hearts would seem to point to almost certain liquidation. Fedotovas has made loose noises in public about a plan being in place if the bill is confirmed; and so it should be, given how it was he and his fellow directors who administered the scheme of paying loan players a portion of their wages in Lithuania. At the very least, Hearts must properly clarify the true value of the tribunal and exactly how they plan to deal with it.

If both the Foundation and Hearts' share issue fail, there will be ominous consequences. Romanov would almost certainly have a major say in an administration since UBIG remains the major creditor. Liquidation would have extremely severe football consequences; both that and administration would not be confused as easy routes for anybody who has encountered them.

With the Foundation, as its name implies, there is capability for a fresh start to grow the club, using corporate governance as a central cornerstone. It is inevitably and unavoidably the best alternative the club have right now. Not for the first time, the Hearts ball has been placed firmly in Romanov's court.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer