'Spectacular' response by fans - BDO

The administrators of Hearts, BDO, today issued the following statement.

The administrators of Hearts said that the target for 3000 season ticket sales has almost been met within the 14-day deadline set when the club went into administration.

Joint administrator and business restructuring partner with BDO LLP, Trevor Birch, said that the fans had risen spectacularly to the challenge and given the club time to keep operating while a buyer is
sought for the club.

As Trevor explained: "Hearts fans have shown their devotion to their club and risen above and beyond the call of duty to commit themselves with the purchase of almost 3000 season tickets.

"This, coupled with fund raising activities such as the fans rally at the weekend which raised over £30,000, has given us the breathing space to liase with interested parties and work with them in order to move forward toward a sale.

"However, I would urge caution and encourage the fans to continue their efforts as we cannot be certain that this will be a quick process due to the ownership issues that need to be resolved and, ideally, would like to know that we can fund the club until the end of the year and beyond. It would also be useful for the club to have a funding cushion for the new owner."

Trevor continued: "There are still a number of key issues in the next few weeks. The deadline for bids of the 12th July has been set so that we can ascertain the serious interest out there and then work with a small number of bidders to move towards a preferred bidder status.

"We are continuing to liaise with the lawyers for the administrators in Lithuania to ensure shares owned by UBIG, AB Ukio Bankas and Quantum are included in the sale along with ownership of Tynecastle Stadium. There is also the forthcoming SFA decision on the club and we are sure that we will be given a fair hearing by the panel."

Trevor concluded: "Today we have reached our first milestone in the administration of the club and I would like to thank all the fans, the staff and players at the club, and the wider community for their incredible efforts and support over the last fortnight.

"I look forward to working with everyone in the coming weeks in our efforts to find a buyer and put through a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)."

Hearts World