Hearts in Crisis: ‘We don’t want club to die. We are doing our bit’

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

The words of East Ayrshire boy Bill Shankly, the legendary manager of Liverpool FC in the 1960s and early 1970s, sum up what many football fans across the world think about their clubs. Football is not a game. It is a way of life, a member of the family, part of your DNA.

In Edinburgh, Hearts fans are certainly displaying a diehard commitment to their club in recent weeks. As former players like John Robertson pledge to buy season tickets and current players offer their hand to help the club in its hour of need, hundreds of fans are organising small events throughout the city to help raise money for their side.

The Tynecastle outfit are £25m in debt and last week entered administration. The future of a Scottish footballing institution is in serious doubt.

“I have been a Hearts supporter since the 70s and, like everyone else, we don’t want the club to die,” said Murray Gardiner, at the Café Fresco in the city’s Fountainbridge.

“We are all doing our bit. I bought a season ticket for the first time in four years on Thursday.”

On Tuesday, Murray spent his day with his friend Neil Connolly, the owner of the café. They are raising money for the club with the sale of Hearts books and programmes dating back to the 1950s.

Fifty per cent of all money raised from the sale of hot drinks throughout the day will also go directly to the club.

“A couple of taxi drivers have come in with pictures and old programmes,” said Neil. “We wouldn’t rule out doing the hot drinks deal again in the future.

“I felt as I had the shop I could do something. It is a good place for people to drop in. It is something that people are spending their money on anyway on a daily basis, but they know if they come here half their money will go to Hearts.

“It is amazing how many people are pulling together. I think the penny has probably dropped for most people now that we are in dire straits.”

Neil’s 77-year-old father, Ron Connolly, is also helping out with the sales, which stood at £85 by lunchtime. He remembers going to his first Hearts game with his dad in 1941.

“Hearts are part of my life,” he commented. “It would be terrible if it went to the wall. This shows the spirit of the club and how much everyone is willing to work together.”

Ten minutes walk up the road towards the Grassmarket, another city business is also raising money for Hearts.

Brauhaus, a specialist beer bar in Lauriston Place, owned by Hearts fan Sal Sarwar, has a variety of initiatives to make around £3000 for the club by Monday.

A flag featuring fans favourite Rudi Skácel at the Scottish Cup victory in 2012, signed by the Czech forward, is a feature of the pub as it hovers over the bar.

It was the subject of an online auction this week and was sold for £510. Regulars of the pub will be pleased to hear the flag, which travelled with supporters to last year’s UEFA Europa League tie against Liverpool at Anfield, is going nowhere.

Sal said: “The person who won it lives in America and has been in the bar a couple of times. He has paid the money and told us to keep the flag flying across the bar so everyone can still see it, and it can stay in its spiritual home.

“To put it up for sale was almost like flogging the family silver. It was close to our heart.

“The generosity of people is unbelievable.”

Brauhaus in Edinburgh

The Rudi Skácel flag above the bar in the Brauhaus in Edinburgh. Copyright - STV

As well as the money raised from the flag, the bar is hoping to make around £1400 from the sales of Krušovice beer.

The pub is selling 480 bottles of it at £3 a pop, with all of the proceeds going to the Tynecastle club. Sal will also hold a raffle to sell off a number of signed strips from Hearts players including Darren Barr, Christian Nade, and Christos Karipidis.

The latest round of fundraising from the bar comes after it raised £8000 in November, when Skácel went behind the bar himself and pulled pints for supporters.

The bar acted after the club issued a dire warning to fans, stating Hearts could play in last game that month after the club was served with a winding-up order from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs over unpaid PAYE and National Insurance to the value of £450,000.

The club survived that episode, but the fans have been propelled into action again following a plea by administrators last week to raise money for the club.

Craig Stewart, a 36-year-old season ticket holder, is organising a family fun day to be held on July 7 at the Gorgie Suite at Tynecastle Stadium. A previous fun day in November made £3800 for the club.

Entry to the event is free, with money raised by donations to a series of stalls including tombola, raffles and gift cards. Bouncy castles and face painting will also be offer to young fans and their families.

He said: “We would love to beat the amount we raised the last time. One guy who is based in Kuwait had seen what we were doing online and he messaged me to say he wants to donate something for the event.

“He ordered two cases of wine and has sent them over.

“People have said how much their kids enjoyed it last time. It is to raise the funds and do something for the kids, which is a feature of the support.”

Other fundraising ideas in action from fans include the brewing of Rudi Skacel beer, the sale of memorabilia and a five-a-side football tournament.

There has even been chatter in the Scottish brass band community of forming a Hearts supporters band to raise money with a special performance.

Fans are also contributing money directly to the club through the Jambos Kickback website. At the time of writing, the total was over £27,300.

Be it a few hundred pounds from a café, or a few thousand pounds from a bar or a family fun day, Hearts fans are all hoping it adds up.

On Tuesday, the club took the opportunity to thank everyone for their work so far.

A spokesman from Hearts told STV: “The response from the fans has been magnificent and their reaction following the administrators’ plea demonstrates how much this famous football club means to so many people.

“There is still a long way to go before we emerge from this dark period, but hopefully with the fans continued support we can come through this.”

One thing is for certain. If Hearts make it to the start of next season, the first goal scored by the men in maroon will be celebrated with a little more gusto than usual.

Many supporters will know that, in some small way, they helped to make it happen.