Hearts lifted by possible joint bid

Graeme Macpherson
Football Writer
Monday 24 June 2013

IAN MURRAY MP, the chairman of the Foundation of Hearts, has said the supporters-led group could be willing to work in tandem with Gordon McKie's consortium to buy the stricken club.

McKie, the former Scottish Rugby Union chief executive, revealed yesterday that he is leading a group of five or six investors intent on bidding for control of the Tynecastle club.

Hearts went into administration last week with debts of more than £25m.

McKie, who was involved with the Blue Knights' failed attempt to buy Rangers last year, met Murray and Bryan Jackson of administrators BDO last week and said he would be interested in engaging with the foundation, an amalgam of different fans' groups, to investigate the prospect of "supporter ownership and board participation" becoming part of their plans for the club.

Murray responded positively to the suggestion that the two groups could work together, although stressed the foundation would continue to devote most of its efforts towards making a solo bid. "I met Gordon and his team briefly last week and the issue of whether we could do something or not was raised," Murray told Herald Sport. "The foundation has always been quite clear that as long as the best interests for the future of the football club were at the heart of any bid then we would back it.

"We would always talk to anyone who wanted to talk to us. This is really positive news. There are people out there now who are serious about taking these bids forward and we're just as delighted as anyone, as the future of Hearts is still at grave risk.

"At the moment, though, the foundation just needs to move forward on our own as, until there are contracts and cheques on the table, there isn't much we can do to get the club back on a stable financial footing except via the full fans' ownership model."

McKie, who has the support but not financial backing of Brian Kennedy, the Sale Sharks owner, said he had been impressed by the foundation's ability to galvanise supporters at the club's time of need, but was unsure of the best way to harness that fan power. "We want to encourage supporter ownership of some kind, but we're not sure what that means at the moment," he said. "If we're putting in the lion's share of the money we would want control in the beginning, but we are prepared to embrace supporter ownership and board participation.

"I met Ian and bounced a few ideas around with him. Together we are more powerful, unless he can find another bidder. And I don't know if there is anybody else out there. I certainly haven't heard of anybody. If they have 5000-6000 pledges, that's a chunky audience. Now, a pledge is one thing and turning it into cash is another, so it remains to be seen what they actually generate. But we want to engage with them.

"I think he welcomed the fact that I have a background in sport and experience in turning around troubled businesses. Also, we're not a bunch of spivs. The people around me are reputable, credible and wealthy, and have Hearts' best interests at heart because most of them are Hearts supporters. Not all, but most. Hearts have been part of their life and they are dismayed at what they hear and what they read."

Taken from the Herald