What We're Reading
Hearts Has Debts To Pay
- The Guardian, Thursday, July 30, 2009 3 PM
The club issued a statement on its website to assuage fears of over its debts. It reads: "Hearts have been informed of the petition that has been raised and that came as a surprise as the club have a payment schedule in place with HMRC and this will be met in full and to the agreed timescales," said the club's director Sergejus Fedotova. "The funds are available and sufficient to meet the obligations. We have made excellent progress recently as a club in cutting our costs and reducing our debt while delivering a winning team on the field. This will continue to be the case and, with continued effective investment, we are confident in our future direction."
Should Hearts fail to pay up, the action could see them forced to sell assets or even cease trading altogether. If the club slips into administration, it would face a 10-point deduction from the Scottish Premier League. While the club stated last season that it had reduced its debts by 16 percent, the club twice failed to pay players on time, citing "technical" glitches for the delays. Former Hearts chairman Lord Foulkes, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, told the Edinburgh Evening News the latest development would "send shivers down the spine" of supporters and would further divide opinion over the controversial owner Vladimir Romanov ... I think Mr. Romanov and his colleagues have taken things to the wire before as far as paying bills are concerned. So far, the club has survived, but it's certainly not good for the nerves. Everybody just crosses their fingers and hopes it goes away."
