Gary Ralston: Administrator Trevor Birch admits only Jambos fans can save their club from extinction
21 Jun 2013 08:04

Gary Ralston

GARY watches a day of heartbreak unfold at Tynecastle as fans are urged to fork out around £750,000 in season-ticket sales in a bid to stave off liquidation.

THE last player ever signed by Bill Shankly yesterday refused to chant the mantra of the legendary Liverpool boss that football is more important than life or death.

However, Trevor Birch laid it on the line when he emphasised the survival of Hearts lies entirely in the hands of their fans.

The Tynecastle support have again been left to pick up the pieces for the reckless spending of the Vladimir Romanov era after the club plunged into administration.

Nine of 27 full-time admin staff were yesterday made redundant at Hearts, along with five part-time employees. Four players, two seniors and two kids, are set to be trimmed from the existing squad of 26 within the next 24 hours.

Hearts supporters are now being asked to fork out around £750,000 in season-ticket sales to see the club over the summer and into the season as administrators BDO search frantically for a buyer.

The call on their cash comes just seven months after they forked out £1million in a share issue to see the club through to the end of the season.

Birch hopes the Gorgie fans continue to show their loyalty towards the club, which has been underlined by staff members who have been kept on.

They have been forced to join the list of creditors after the club failed to pay last month’s salaries.

Former Anfield midfielder Birch, now an administrator with BDO, could not tell them yesterday when they will next be paid but not one of them exercised their legal right to walk out there and then as they vowed to stay and fight.

Birch said: “Administration is never easy in any situation, particularly at a football club. People tend to treat it like a vocation. The passion and commitment they have for the club always seems to be that much greater than that of a normal employee, so it’s always incredibly difficult to lay people off at football clubs.

“We spoke to them collectively then individually and everybody was incredibly resilient. There was no anger but everybody was incredibly upset and resigned to the fact.

“It has been going on for some time and in some ways it is better to have some certainty.

“The staff are within their rights to walk away if we do not pay them and it says everything about them that they have a fantastic loyalty to the club. They should be applauded for that.

“We have to be optimistic. There is a sustainable business here but we have to get through the short term.

“It’s a desperate situation and we’re coming forward again to make a plea to fans, even though they have been milked time and again.

“The cupboard is bare. We have no money left and are relying on the goodwill of fans to pull the club through.

“We’re fortunate that there are 3000 season-tickets still to be sold. We need cash.”

Tynecastle basked in the summer sunshine yesterday at a time of year when usually the only crowds walking along McLeod Street are from Tynecastle High School on their way to lunch.

Hearts fans, sadly, have long become accustomed to their club in crisis. Once, angry punters dumped cossack hats on the pavements outside and cursed the reign of Romanov as they traded punches following stormy agms.

Yesterday? Barely a single supporter dropped by to check the comings and goings as television trucks squeezed into the car park and aimed their satellite dishes, like the prayers of the fans, in the direction of the gods.

Admin staff had reported for work as usual and shortly after 10am they were joined by manager Gary Locke, who met administrators at 11.30am with director of football John Murray.

Barely half-an-hour later, Birch and colleague Bryan Jackson addressed staff and told them of the number of anticipated job losses, before individual meetings with those members of staff being made redundant.

Birch is used to dealing at the highest end of football. A former chief executive at Chelsea, he brokered the arrival of Roman Abramovich at Stamford Bridge and has also held similar posts at Leeds United and Everton.

But it is his vast experience from being administrator at Portsmouth last year on which he will rely most in the coming weeks as he seeks to keep Hearts in business before selling the club on as a going concern, with Tynecastle as part of the package.

The stadium is valued at £5.5m but there is security on the ground held by Ukio Bankas, who are also in administration. Theoretically, it could be sold alone to pay off creditors in Lithuania but that is unlikely at this stage.

Birch added: “The situation at Portsmouth was worse. We had 18 players on excessive, long-term contracts, more than £40,000 per week, which is considerably more than anyone is paid here.

“It took from February to August to get them to move out and it left me little time to put a team out on to the pitch for last season.

“That is the worst it could ever be. It had everything in terms of players, difficult security holder and land problems. Altogether it was pretty tricky so coming here I can make an assessment and say this isn’t as bad.

“The timescale we’ve laid out of three to four months can’t be quicker because we have to go through the process of administration and CVA. An independent valuation will be made on Tynecastle. We would entertain bids for it as a stand-alone because we would come under attack if we didn’t do that amid claims we hadn’t marketed it properly.

“However, the belief is that as a combined asset with the football club it will create and hold more value so we will try to sell it as that.”

Birch has seen the positive side of the benevolent dictator model in Abramovich, who has ploughed fortunes into Chelsea and absorbed debts. He added: “The difficulty with this is that when payroll is over 100 per cent of the turnover it creates mayhem – and is unsustainable if they walk away from the club.

“That’s what we are seeing. It’s great for fans when they win things. But is it worth it if it all ends in turmoil?”