Hearts fans may be prompted to learn the Lithuanian for 'Be merciful'

THE fact that an umbrella group of Hearts supporters' organisations has dared to be optimistic about events in Lithuania could best be summed up by coining a phrase: better the devil you don't know.

Hearts are at the mercy of a company of which they had never heard, and which has no obligation to care about what happens to their club. It isn't accountable to Hearts, and with no connection to Scotland or the club it will act unemotionally. In Edinburgh and beyond there will have been hundreds of internet searches about "Valnetas UAB" over the past few days, all desperate for reassurance about the behaviour and modus operandi of the Kaunas firm which controls Hearts' fate.

The quest for information is understandable, but futile. When it comes to what Valnetas UAB are likely to do with a heavily indebted Scottish top-flight club financially tethered to a collapsed Lithuanian bank, well, surprise surprise, there is no precedent.

Valnetas will handle the bankruptcy proceedings of Ukio Bankas, formerly owned by our old pal Vladimir Romanov and now floored by £300m of debt. Unless the instigation of the bankruptcy process is overturned on appeal it will be Valnetas' job to get the best deal for all of those owed that £300m, £15m of which is due from Hearts. Among the assets owned by Ukio Bankas is Tynecastle and – crucially, say some sources – there is a claim from Valnetas to more than 79% of Hearts' shares, which previously had been believed to be under the control of the bank's parent company, Ubig.

Valnetas have two general options. If they decide to demand full, swift payment of the £15m from Hearts then the club, powerless to pay it, of course, would be plunged into administration. If that happens before the end of the season the consequent mandatory Clydesdale Bank Premier League points deduction would condemn the club to relegation. If it happened after the season, the points deduction would take effect going into next season.

More importantly, the ownership of Hearts, if the shares are in Valnetas' control, would be auctioned to the highest bidder. MP Ian Murray and his umbrella group of Hearts fans hope and suspect there would be no bid competing with their own. No-one else has shown credible interest in buying the club during the 18 months in which Romanov made noises about it being available. Hearts could be bought for, say, £2m with the new owners taking control of a debt-free club. When this sort of thing happened at the other end of the M8 Charles Green magically appeared with a consortium, but something similar is unlikely for Hearts. That is good for Murray and his group.

The worst-case scenario, and let's hope it's an unlikely one because of the hostile opposition it would provoke, is that Valnetas decide on a fire sale and try to hawk Tynecastle to a property developer. That's one of the points senior Hearts figures will have to get comfort on when they eventually get a meeting with Valnetas' officials in the coming days or weeks. They will stress that the club is now paying all its bills, cutting its costs, gradually eating into its debt. They will plead with the Lithuanians to let the current repayment plan continue.

The club's accounts show debts of £24.7m (£15m to Ukio Bankas, some £10m to Ubig) but Hearts are up to date with their players' wages and taxes. They have an agreement to pay Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs an outstanding £1.58m over the next three years for backdated tax and National Insurance obligations. They can see light at the end of the long tunnel.

The wider, beleaguered body of Hearts supports will learn more at the club's annual meeting on May 23 but for the time being they will feel tentative optimism as the umbrella group of organisations has interpreted Valnetas' appointment as a positive development. At last the club is no longer at the whim of, and subject to the restrictions imposed by, Romanov. At last they can see a path to their own eventual ownership of the club. At last they foresee the possibility of a debt-free club wrestled away from Romanov, Ukio, Ubig, Lithuania, disengaged businessmen and years of gnawing stress, anxiety and fear. But all of this depends on Valnetas' attitude.

They don't know nearly enough about Valnetas. They don't know how they're likely to act, or interpret what's best for the creditors in Lithuania. There can be nothing but informed guesswork and crossing of fingers about what's likely to happen. It is ridiculous and grotesque that Hearts' future is so vulnerable and utterly at the mercy of a company which has no obligation to care for them. Worse, putting Tynecastle up for sale or plunging the club into immediate administration might be the option they pursue in an entirely legitimate attempt to look after the people they are working for: not Hearts, but the bank's many creditors.

It is Romanov's shame that Hearts have come to this. Let's hope Murray's instincts are right, and that Valnetas' involvement could finally result in Hearts being safe.

Taken from the Herald