Fire sale at Tynecastle

A board statement has confirmed fears that the Tynecastle club is experiencing serious money problems and players must be sold if its to meet current payments to HMRC as well as players and staff.

SunSport revealed last week that the Edinburgh club will be slapped with a winding-up order for their unpaid £100,000 PAYE tax bill and this latest move could spark fears that the club may not be able to cough up the money.

The statement read: "Due to recent unexpected circumstances away from Tynecastle, the club is now experiencing a shortfall in funding. This shortfall, due to recent uncertainty, has created a significant noticeable blockage in projected revenue streams for the club.

"While this hesitation is understandable it is unwittingly damaging the club's current efforts to improve its financial situation including current payments to HMRC and raising doubts over future payments to players and staff.

"It is now crucial to the football club that we find a solution to bring in enough finance to allow us to trade into the new season when normal trading can resume with the benefit of SPL and game-related income streams.

"The payments to HMRC and players/staff salaries are the most important issues in our focus these days where very limited time remains available to the club.

"However given that the revenues for season tickets has dried up and no other realistic income is available quickly enough, the club will consider offers for the players of the current squad, including the most promising talent in order for the most necessary and important payments to be made.

"The board had planned to bring income in through the sale of players while considering the financial forecast for next season but now this will need to happen much earlier in order to preserve the business.

"We understand that this will lead to significant on-field pressure but at all times we must consider the health of the club and preserve it for future generations."