Hearts face drop

Owners UBIG have applied to be declared insolvent in Lithuania leaving the Jambos on the brink.

SPL chiefs will hold talks to find out if the dramatic twist has left Hearts in breach of strict league rules.

If so, they will be docked 17 points, leaving them four adrift of safety with just one game left.

It would spare Dundee from the drop to Division One and shatter the crisis-torn Jambos.

On a day of drama, UBIG was listed as insolvent by the Lithuanian government as it can’t meet its liabilities.

Frantic Tynecastle chiefs then confirmed they had called for answers on the extent of their parent company’s plight. Fans’ chiefs met to step up fundraising efforts as they plot a bid to rescue Hearts.

Senior SPL figures will now enter crisis talks with their legal advisors to study their own insolvency rules.

Hearts are still clinging to the hope they will NOT be dragged into the mire and can dodge administration.

The club is trading normally and has not relied on UBIG for any financial support since early 2012.

But Jambos chiefs are aware of tough new SPL rules on insolvency which also cover parent companies.

A club statement read: “Hearts can acknowledge it is aware of a report in Lithuania relating to its parent company UBIG.

“The club is seeking clarification regarding UBIG’s current situation.”

UBIG owns 79 per cent of Hearts and the Jambos, now £25million in debt, owe them around £10m.

SunSport revealed last month Hearts was edging towards financial meltdown as controversial owner Vladimir Romanov’s financial problems worsened.

We also revealed on Wednesday four SPL clubs had written to the league demanding answers on the extent of the cash crisis.

The scale of the problems became apparent yesterday, with league chiefs now facing tough decisions.

Hearts believed they would be safe from the drop if the ‘insolvency event’ was delayed until Monday May 20 — the day after the season ends.

But it emerged last night any punishment would depend on when an insolvency event is deemed to have started.

If that start date is prior to the season end then a points penalty could be backdated, and the Jambos could go down.

Edinburgh MP Ian Murray, who is leading a fans’ bid to take over at Tynecastle, held a crisis summit in Edinburgh last night to discuss the latest developments.

Murray said: “Now is the time to act. We are moving things along as fast as we can.

“We can’t put a bid together until we know how much money we have got.

“If the administrator said tomorrow they were selling Hearts for a pound we would still need that pound.

“The main thing that would come out of this is we would get clarity over who exactly owns what.”