Troubled times are looming large again at Tynecastle

MATTHEW HAROLD is a Hearts fan who writes a column called Heart of the Matter every week in the Edinburgh Now newspaper.

NOBODY would have been shocked to hear that Hearts are facing yet another winding-up order for an unpaid tax bill.

However, what makes this one more serious is the state the ownership of the club is in right now.

Owner Vladimir Romanov has done a Lord Lucan and disappeared off the face of the planet. Well just to Moscow to evade the Lithuanian authorities after the collapse of Ukio Bankas and the doom that seems ready to fall upon UBIG.

These two dominoes starting to fall is the biggest worry about this situation as there is now no escape route, unless the begging bowl is once again produced by Sergejus Fedotovas.

We’ve already seen him put the wheels in motion in a letter pleading with season-ticket holders to renew.

But there doesn’t appear to be any type of structured plan for the future, as was seen at the recent AGM where Fedotovas made wild claims about bringing in £1million in transfer fees next season to overcome a likely £2m shortfall.

That is reason enough for fans to be wary and as such the Foundation of Hearts, the preferred bidders from a fans’ point of view, need to up the pace on their plans for fan ownership of the club.

The news that they are having a Q&A with fans this Friday is great news, even though this should have been done years ago.

A blind man could see the way this was heading when players and staff were not being paid on time. That should have set alarm bells ringing to those in positions of power.

The main task is to ensure the club doesn’t go into administration. If that happens boss Gary Locke will have his hands tied behind his back, his legs tied and be blindfolded.

A 15-point deduction, along with another signing ban would see him have to work with an even more threadbare squad than it currently is.

If administration happens it is probable the club wouldn’t be able to sign experienced players and would also lose others, meaning relegation would be a near certainty.

And it’s not like Locke doesn’t already have his problems to seek, with the only experienced players signed for next season being Jamie MacDonald, Jamie Hamill, Ryan Stevenson and John Sutton.

That means if the uncertainly about the future of the club continues, he’ll have a hard time being able to attract the kind of players he needs in order to make sure that the disaster of last season doesn’t happen again.

What everyone associated with Hearts wants is an end to the rumours that have circulated for the past two years about the club going under.

Hopefully the Foundation of Hearts can gain control and the clouds can finally lift from Tynecastle and we can get back to talking about what’s happening on the park not off it.

Taken from the Daily Record