Greenock Morton could be promoted to Scottish Premier League if Hearts go to the wall

Greenock Morton, the club who were preparing to revert to part-time status before agreement was reached to merge the two ruling bodies and form the new Scottish Professional Football League, are likely to return to the top flight for the first time in quarter of a century should Hearts go to the wall.

By Ewing Grahame

Dundee's hopes of being spared relegation from the elite division are slim. If Hearts announce that they cannot continue as a going concern before the new league season kicks off on Aug 3 then Morton, who finished as runners-up to First Division champions Partick Thistle, will almost certainly take their place.

As things stand, the financially challenged Edinburgh club have been handed a 15-point deduction for 2013-14 as a consequence of their being plunged into administration last week.

Bryan Jackson, of administrators BDO and a veteran of several similar rescue operations with Motherwell, Dundee and Dunfermline, described Hearts' condition as the worst he has seen.

That set alarm bells ringing on the sixth floor of the national stadium. The make-up of the board of the SPFL will be announced in Glasgow on Wednesday and high among their list of priorities will be to draw up contingency plans should Hearts descend from administration into liquidation.

Several parties have already expressed their interest in gaining control of Hearts but a lot will depend on the outcome of discussions in Lithuania, where Ukio Bankas (itself about to be consigned to oblivion) holds the floating charge over the club.

Hearts owe Ukio Bankas £15 million and another £10 million to UBIG, the Kaunas-based investment company which is also about to enter administration.

The hope is that these businesses, both previously run by former Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov, can come to an agreement over terms with one of the prospective buyers.

Failure to do that is likely to see Hearts die and, like Rangers last summer, they would consequently lose their membership of the league body and any phoenix club would be forced to apply to begin life in the Third Division or, worse, the newly-formed Lowland League.

Dundee manager John Brown has argued, not without justification, that his club had been cheated out of a place in the SPL by Hearts simply delaying the announcement of their insolvency in order for the points penalty to be triggered for next season rather than during the previous campaign, when Dundee finished 14 points adrift of them.

However, well-placed Hampden sources stress that Dundee should not build up their hopes of a reprieve if Hearts go bust.

"Dunfermline made the same argument last summer but the prevailing view at the time was that they had already been relegated on sporting merit," said one insider.

"That has set a precedent and, although the SPFL is a new body and won't be bound by that decision, they will use it as a guide.

"Everyone is still optimistic that Hearts can come through this with a Company Voluntary Arrangement but, if the worst came to the worst, then it is likely that Morton would become Team 12 - just as Dundee did last year when Rangers were liquidated."

Scottish problems sadden Andy Roxburgh

Andy Roxburgh admits viewing Scottish football with a mixture of disbelief and sadness this week as Hearts became the latest top-flight club to crumble under the burden of debt.

The depressing development at Tynecastle came as no real surprise but was another blow to the game which is arguably still coming to terms with Rangers being liquidated last summer before re-emerging in the Irn-Bru Third Division.

Amid the financial gloom which has enveloped Scottish football in recent years, First Division Dunfermline are also trying to come out of administration.

Former Scotland manager Roxburgh joined Major League Soccer side the New York Red Bulls as sporting director last November after working with Uefa as a technical director for over 18 years and as a consequence of his time away from his homeland believes it would be "inappropriate" for him to offer advice.

However, he expressed his deep-felt concern for the Scottish game, and said: "My heart is there but I view it from the outside and I just shake my head in disbelief.

"I can't believe what has happened to the Scottish game. I find it really sad. That is the only word for it.

"But I am not Harry Potter. I don't have a solution or (will say) go to the American system. American sport is different from European sport.

"But what I would say that they have done brilliantly here is they have made sure that the business, that is the clubs and the league, can survive, that is their priority.

"Previously, there had been start-ups and failures and what they have done over nearly 20 years is they have kept the league alive, adding to it and improving it.

"The salary cap and all the controls on you are quite difficult, but they are there for a reason.

"For them, the league is more important than any one team and so the survival of the league is the name of the game for them and they have done it well.

"The league is in good condition financially and in general, the clubs are stable.

"Nobody seems to be under threat in any way, nobody is going into administration so you have to say that what they have done here, in terms of the business model, has worked."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk