We badly need a new owner!

[Das Root]

Dear pot, love kettle!

 

There is a possible rationale that Das Root mentioned the other day which is plausible, viz degrade the team to such an extent that the emotional pull of the team flushes out buyers.

 

 

Yup, that would be option 1, but realistically option 2 above will be in the game plan. To suggest he will be sat around here for 5yrs hoping to offload to anyone just to keep the fans loving him? Can't quite see that as being real.

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

This whole hysteria is over late wages. Obviously late wages are a concern and I hope they are paid pronto but, I am not yet convinced that the money is not there if the situation becomes mote dire. I remember last season when this happened and all the talk then was about finding a buyer quickly, we're going out of business, etc... Then payments were made and significantly results took everyone's minds of the situation. I have not read anything official enough to make me start panicking yet.

[Charlie-Brown]

There are no obvious willing buyers for Hearts, Hearts generate ?X Million pounds per season therefore Hearts costs will be reduced to not exceed ?X Million pounds per season and the club will continue to live within the means it is able to generate - just like every other SPL club has to. Whether that meets the fans expectations or satisfactions is a moot point.

[gowestjambo]

There are no obvious willing buyers for Hearts, Hearts generate ?X Million pounds per season therefore Hearts costs will be reduced to not exceed ?X Million pounds per season and the club will continue to live within the means it is able to generate - just like every other SPL club has to. Whether that meets the fans expectations or satisfactions is a moot point.

 

 

Well, it appears we are short of ?2 million per season just now, so we have some way to go yet! Hopefully something will which has been suggested previously will finally surface in the near future........

[Charlie-Brown]

Well, it appears we are short of ?2 million per season just now, so we have some way to go yet! Hopefully something will which has been suggested previously will finally surface in the near future........

 

Well if we are still short of approx ?2M per year then we will have to try to find some ways to raise additional revenues as well as replacing the higher earning players with lower cost alternatives and balance income/expenditure, ultimately every club will have to live within it's means if it is to be able to sustain itself.

[Deevers]

Well if we are still short of approx ?2M per year then we will have to try to find some ways to raise additional revenues as well as replacing the higher earning players with lower cost alternatives and balance income/expenditure, ultimately every club will have to live within it's means if it is to be able to sustain itself.

That's going to be the case with every club in Scotland for the present. I think that players and agents are going to have to take a reality pill over the coming few years - the wages expected by some are downright mad.

[gowestjambo]

Well if we are still short of approx ?2M per year then we will have to try to find some ways to raise additional revenues as well as replacing the higher earning players with lower cost alternatives and balance income/expenditure, ultimately every club will have to live within it's means if it is to be able to sustain itself.

 

 

Agree entirely, this is the only way forward. There is no plan B...............

[Das Root]

Well if we are still short of approx ?2M per year then we will have to try to find some ways to raise additional revenues as well as replacing the higher earning players with lower cost alternatives and balance income/expenditure, ultimately every club will have to live within it's means if it is to be able to sustain itself.

 

 

That could be a false economy though, unless the replacements are of as high a standard. If we have a bad season this season, no silverware and end up mid-table or worse, it could result in lower season ticket sales for next season and that shortfall could negate the savings on dumping the big earners. Inversely, a strong team competing on the field and challenging, could have Tynecastle sold out and that increase in revenue then offsets the higher wage bill.

 

Neither scenario saves money, but the latter shows ambition and imo is more respectful to the fans. We pay to watch our team win, not turn up for 90mins. Football is a competition, games are meant to be won. Fans may be berated for not supporting the team through thick and thin, but our wages pay their wages, so whose wages are the more important? The staff of the club or the fans of the club? If the club chooses not to fully compete, why shouldn't the fans choose not to fully fund the club?

 

We spent money (wastefully) at a time when the OF were powerful, yet now when they are weak and the SPL is open for real challenge we back away from the fight? Vlad all over. Talked a hell of a game at the start, but now when he really could make a difference he's off on the basketball court.

 

Something right now to make good on his early promise would leave him a real legacy, but instead his actions diminish Hearts in terms of their position in Scottish Football. Other teams challenge, while we falter. He needs to leave quickly while the OF are still weak, fresh blood is needed to take the club forward. It will just take one season of any other club winning the SPL to provide a spark for real change, and I would like it to be us.

[Hibee Hater]

Glad romanov has paid the wages. Hopefully their are no more delays.

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

Glad romanov has paid the wages. Hopefully their are no more delays.

 

I hope theirs are no more delays too...

Anyway, now that all that is behind us. Do we still badly need a new owner though HH? I need to know this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shaun.lawson]

That could be a false economy though, unless the replacements are of as high a standard. If we have a bad season this season, no silverware and end up mid-table or worse, it could result in lower season ticket sales for next season and that shortfall could negate the savings on dumping the big earners. Inversely, a strong team competing on the field and challenging, could have Tynecastle sold out and that increase in revenue then offsets the higher wage bill.

 

Neither scenario saves money, but the latter shows ambition and imo is more respectful to the fans. We pay to watch our team win, not turn up for 90mins. Football is a competition, games are meant to be won. Fans may be berated for not supporting the team through thick and thin, but our wages pay their wages, so whose wages are the more important? The staff of the club or the fans of the club? If the club chooses not to fully compete, why shouldn't the fans choose not to fully fund the club?

 

We spent money (wastefully) at a time when the OF were powerful, yet now when they are weak and the SPL is open for real challenge we back away from the fight? Vlad all over. Talked a hell of a game at the start, but now when he really could make a difference he's off on the basketball court.

 

Something right now to make good on his early promise would leave him a real legacy, but instead his actions diminish Hearts in terms of their position in Scottish Football. Other teams challenge, while we falter. He needs to leave quickly while the OF are still weak, fresh blood is needed to take the club forward. It will just take one season of any other club winning the SPL to provide a spark for real change, and I would like it to be us.

 

You do realise that there's literally no logic in the above position at all?

 

"Our (or rather, given my notorious record , your) wages pay their wages". Yes; all well and good so far. However, despite us being massively in debt - and having been massively in debt for well over a decade now, a debt which will threaten and is threatening the club's future - you then complain that the owner won't subsidise us with extra out of his own pocket. Despite him already having chucked tens of millions away; despite him having converted huge amounts of debt to equity; despite what you're calling for actually now being ILLEGAL under UEFA's financial regulations.

 

What's more important? Spending money we don't have to try and buy a league we have absolutely no chance of winning (before we released all those players over the summer, we'd just finished FORTY-ONE POINTS behind Celtic in a distant 5th place); or actually ensure there's a football club to support in the future?

 

I find it incredible. I really do. Does any other non-OF fanbase demand they spend big and win the league? No - so what on earth gives us the right to? More than that: that we haven't so much as even finished 3rd in the entire modern era without spending beyond our means suggests our "standing in Scottish football" isn't what many believe it to be in the first place.

 

"Ambition"? Suicide more like. A corpse which, upon reawakening and being told in no uncertain terms how to look after himself at last, instead immediately begins readministering the poison.

[Hibee Hater]

I hope theirs are no more delays too...

Anyway, now that all that is behind us. Do we still badly need a new owner though HH? I need to know this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe not right now but we will soon.

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

Maybe not right now but we will soon.

 

Cool, cheers... Mind an' FedEx me a great big parcel of 'Give a shit' by recorded delivery when it's time for me too skoosh my undercrackers.

[Das Root]

You do realise that there's literally no logic in the above position at all?

 

"Our (or rather, given my notorious record , your) wages pay their wages". Yes; all well and good so far. However, despite us being massively in debt - and having been massively in debt for well over a decade now, a debt which will threaten and is threatening the club's future - you then complain that the owner won't subsidise us with extra out of his own pocket. Despite him already having chucked tens of millions away; despite him having converted huge amounts of debt to equity; despite what you're calling for actually now being ILLEGAL under UEFA's financial regulations.

 

What's more important? Spending money we don't have to try and buy a league we have absolutely no chance of winning (before we released all those players over the summer, we'd just finished FORTY-ONE POINTS behind Celtic in a distant 5th place); or actually ensure there's a football club to support in the future?

 

I find it incredible. I really do. Does any other non-OF fanbase demand they spend big and win the league? No - so what on earth gives us the right to? More than that: that we haven't so much as even finished 3rd in the entire modern era without spending beyond our means suggests our "standing in Scottish football" isn't what many believe it to be in the first place.

 

"Ambition"? Suicide more like. A corpse which, upon reawakening and being told in no uncertain terms how to look after himself at last, instead immediately begins readministering the poison.

 

 

 

I think you missed my first paragraph. I'm not advocating spending money, I'm questioning whether reducing our costs is a good plan. Whether these costs reductions will result in less bums on seat and with less revenue we are back to scrambling next season for money month to month...and this time with nobody to sell, no wages available to reduce.

 

Do you need to spend big to take on Celtic? The current table suggests no. Celtic are weak, second rate team (albeit expensive) with a second rate manager. Nobody fears them. And what happened last season? Well that was last season. Until May comes and Celtic are FORTY-ONE POINTS ahead of us, your argument is based on a supposition that last season will be just like this season when it's clearly not...as newhun are not in the league, not there to strip points off clubs. A decent run season long and all you have to fight Celtic for are those 12pts, not 24pts as it was against the OF.

 

In terms of the debt...it's not historical. It's Romanov's. His mismanagement, his folly. I'm never going to think he's an idiot, he's clearly not. Whatever his reasons for buying Hearts and now leaving are his. But if he had run things better, we could be in the black not the red. So converting "huge amounts of debt"...his debt, through his mistakes. He's only mopping up what he caused, he's not some sort of saintly philanthropist, in terms of this club he's a two-bit Del Boy with lots of good ideas, bluster, but not the acumen to deliver.

 

Does any other non-OF fanbase demand they spend big and win the league? Yes, of course they do. Every fan wants their club owner to buy the players to provide victory on the pitch.

 

More than that: that we haven't so much as even finished 3rd in the entire modern era without spending beyond our means suggests our "standing in Scottish football" isn't what many believe it to be in the first place. The modern era ended when Rangers dropped to the 3rd, the requirement to spend big went at the same time. While our fanbase suggests we have a very good standing in Scottish Football that our record may not back up...to suggest anything else is a bit of a poor argument to present Shaun.

 

"Ambition"? Suicide more like. That's football Shaun, and that's how it should be. No point at all being a competitive club if season on season you put your hand out for money, then tell the fans "we can't really afford to do much more than nothing, we hope you understand. We need the club to be here 50yrs from now and this level of pishness and ?3 pies that taste like roadkill is how we are going to do it". Core fans will lap it up, swing fans will walk away, and the chance to move the club forward will have been lost. And that will be Romanov's legacy. Two cups and a massive wasted opportunity.

[shaun.lawson]

I think you missed my first paragraph. I'm not advocating spending money, I'm questioning whether reducing our costs is a good plan. Whether these costs reductions will result in less bums on seat and with less revenue we are back to scrambling next season for money month to month...and this time with nobody to sell, no wages available to reduce.

 

Do you need to spend big to take on Celtic? The current table suggests no. Celtic are weak, second rate team (albeit expensive) with a second rate manager. Nobody fears them. And what happened last season? Well that was last season. Until May comes and Celtic are FORTY-ONE POINTS ahead of us, your argument is based on a supposition that last season will be just like this season when it's clearly not...as newhun are not in the league, not there to strip points off clubs. A decent run season long and all you have to fight Celtic for are those 12pts, not 24pts as it was against the OF.

 

In terms of the debt...it's not historical. It's Romanov's. His mismanagement, his folly. I'm never going to think he's an idiot, he's clearly not. Whatever his reasons for buying Hearts and now leaving are his. But if he had run things better, we could be in the black not the red. So converting "huge amounts of debt"...his debt, through his mistakes. He's only mopping up what he caused, he's not some sort of saintly philanthropist, in terms of this club he's a two-bit Del Boy with lots of good ideas, bluster, but not the acumen to deliver.

 

Does any other non-OF fanbase demand they spend big and win the league? Yes, of course they do. Every fan wants their club owner to buy the players to provide victory on the pitch.

 

More than that: that we haven't so much as even finished 3rd in the entire modern era without spending beyond our means suggests our "standing in Scottish football" isn't what many believe it to be in the first place. The modern era ended when Rangers dropped to the 3rd, the requirement to spend big went at the same time. While our fanbase suggests we have a very good standing in Scottish Football that our record may not back up...to suggest anything else is a bit of a poor argument to present Shaun.

 

"Ambition"? Suicide more like. That's football Shaun, and that's how it should be. No point at all being a competitive club if season on season you put your hand out for money, then tell the fans "we can't really afford to do much more than nothing, we hope you understand. We need the club to be here 50yrs from now and this level of pishness and ?3 pies that taste like roadkill is how we are going to do it". Core fans will lap it up, swing fans will walk away, and the chance to move the club forward will have been lost. And that will be Romanov's legacy. Two cups and a massive wasted opportunity.

 

Good response; very good response actually. But...

 

1. When we haven't got a pot to piss in, reducing our costs is certainly a better plan than spending. And rather crucially, now that the subsidy from Lithuania has been cut off, it's actually the only option available to us.

 

2. Are you seriously saying Celtic aren't going to walk the league because of where they are after 6 games? They'll still walk it in the end, no question about that.

 

3. The debt is historical. The debt now is what it is when Romanov took us over, ie. when we needed someone to rescue us from possible or even probable extinction. Yes, he's made tons of baffling mistakes; but the fundamentals underpinning this club are wholly unsound, and have been for decades.

 

4. Er, no. There's actually no other non-OF fanbase which expects their side to win or even challenge for the title. Our fanbase is the only one which barely even celebrates finishing 3rd, largely because of an entitlement complex that that's where we should always be as a minimum. But the figures - the financial ones, I mean - don't back that up at all.

 

Picture the scene. It's the start of 2000/1, and we've just pissed the SMG money right up the wall. Are Hearts fans waking up to the reality that we now need to cut back as a matter of serious urgency? Nope: instead, alarming numbers are unbelievably crucifying Robinson for "lack of ambition" - ie. they apparently want us to go further into the red just so we can end up 20 points behind the OF instead of 30.

 

5. On your final point: sorry, but no. Around Europe, maybe 95% of clubs in its respective top flights cannot hope to win the league either this season or, the way modern football is, ever. We're just another one. And in our case, we're actually paying now for having spent miles and miles beyond our means for donkeys years. A reckoning for such recklessness was bound to come eventually.

[Das Root]

Good response; very good response actually. But...

 

1. When we haven't got a pot to piss in, reducing our costs is certainly a better plan than spending. And rather crucially, now that the subsidy from Lithuania has been cut off, it's actually the only option available to us.

 

 

No it's not. Take the UK at present. Is cutting the deficit by making everybody's life shit doing the job? No. Spend on capital projects, get the banks lending, get businesses earning, drop income / corp tax rates, then...more jobs created, more money earned, happier population spending money in shops, get the cash back via VAT and thus reduce the deficit. Except in this case nobody is miserable. Fans are fickle, if the club is winning games, the fans are there to cheer the team on. If the club is poor, the fans drift away. Save money through reducing operating costs, streamline the business side of the club, don't reduce the product on the pitch or risk reducing your main source of income.

 

 

2. Are you seriously saying Celtic aren't going to walk the league because of where they are after 6 games? They'll still walk it in the end, no question about that.

 

Now you know I never said that. My response was based on you presuming business as usual in the SPL even though the SPL has radically altered since last season. Will they romp it? No. They don't need to. Celtic's only interest is CL football. They'll have for half the season and the rest will be just doing what's necessary to get CL football next season. Just as newhun aren't destroying every 3rd division team they play, Celtic won't be winning 4-0 week on week, teams have lost their fear of Glasgow while I would say Celtic have gained a fear of what could be now they have lost their cartel.

 

3. The debt is historical. The debt now is what it is when Romanov took us over, ie. when we needed someone to rescue us from possible or even probable extinction. Yes, he's made tons of baffling mistakes; but the fundamentals underpinning this club are wholly unsound, and have been for decades.

 

No it is not. Romanov bought the club and with that the debt. Romanov has the resources to clear that debt in full. He chooses not to. Above all if Romanov had managed the club properly we would not have this debt. Managed properly, he would have turned the club's finances around, made the club profitable, just as McCann achieved at Celtic. Robinson was an arse, but Romanov has been here best part of a decade so the buck stops right at his door, to suggest anything else given the resources at Romanov's disposal is just ridiculous.

 

4. Er, no. There's actually no other non-OF fanbase which expects their side to win or even challenge for the title. Our fanbase is the only one which barely even celebrates finishing 3rd, largely because of an entitlement complex that that's where we should always be as a minimum. But the figures - the financial ones, I mean - don't back that up at all.

 

Did I suggest other clubs expect a title challenge? You suggested that, while I said they want victory on the pitch. And spending big is of course relative to the club you support. ?100m for a Man Utd fan is ?100k for a Kilmarnock fan. Both fans want the money spent as both fans want their team to win.

 

Picture the scene. It's the start of 2000/1, and we've just pissed the SMG money right up the wall. Are Hearts fans waking up to the reality that we now need to cut back as a matter of serious urgency? Nope: instead, alarming numbers are unbelievably crucifying Robinson for "lack of ambition" - ie. they apparently want us to go further into the red just so we can end up 20 points behind the OF instead of 30.

 

Fans want victory, they don't care how. They buy their ST and have the right to expect the club to deliver. Whether or not that is financially astute of them is beside the point.

 

5. On your final point: sorry, but no. Around Europe, maybe 95% of clubs in its respective top flights cannot hope to win the league either this season or, the way modern football is, ever. We're just another one. And in our case, we're actually paying now for having spent miles and miles beyond our means for donkeys years. A reckoning for such recklessness was bound to come eventually.

 

We were, not now. Maybe not for 3 more years. The SPL has changed, Hearts can either step up and look to challenge or be left sitting on the sidelines.

[shaun.lawson]

Covering your points Das Root, one by one:

 

1. "Don't reduce your product on the pitch". We don't have a choice; we have to reduce it, because we've been spending miles more than we recouped, even when we were successful. You're asking for something that it's physically impossible for the club to deliver.

 

2. Yes, their only interest is CL football; and as there's no pressure on them whatsoever now, I agree we probably won't be seeing the monster points totals of the recent past. Doesn't actually make a difference though; they'll still walk it, and will still close off the only avenue of financial reward available to any SPL club (and it's now less available to Celtic given the more difficult route to the group stage they'll face from next season onwards).

 

3. "Romanov has the resources to clear that debt in full". Actually, given his recently declared wealth level, it's very open to question whether he even does - but beyond that, after everything he's already spent (read: spunked away, whether we were successful or not) on us, it's absolutely ridiculous - in fact, utterly outrageous - to now demand he just ploughs another 20 million plus in, just to keep the fans happy.

 

And while he's made a great big mess in terms of the wage bill, it's also ridiculous to argue he could've made us profitable: not with a capacity of 17000, he couldn't. Hearts' biggest single problem is how low our capacity and gates are; to achieve the success every fan craves, we basically have to find at least another 10-15000 fans out of nowhere, and move to a much bigger stadium while we're at it. Piece of piss huh?

 

4. So does this "victory on the pitch" apply to all games? If it does, that clearly amounts to expecting a title challenge. Football fans want their club to be as successful as it can be; but many are realists within that, and only fools think it's OK to damn near kill the club stone dead just so "victory" can be achieved.

 

5. Continuing from the above: the whole point here is that football ceased to be a pure sport long, long ago now. Instead, it became a business; and when businesses continually spend much more than they take in, there's a problem. You talk about "financial astuteness" as though it's somehow irrelevant - which given what's happened at Rangers in recent times, defies belief to be honest. In short, if a club's finances aren't managed properly, before long, there is no football club to support.

 

6. Not following this at all. Are you saying that because one behemoth is no longer in the top flight, but the other is still very much there, the SPL is now miraculously winnable? Sure it's winnable; for one club and one club only.

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

 

No it is not. Romanov bought the club and with that the debt. Romanov has the resources to clear that debt in full. He chooses not to. Above all if Romanov had managed the club properly we would not have this debt. Managed properly, he would have turned the club's finances around, made the club profitable, just as McCann achieved at Celtic. Robinson was an arse, but Romanov has been here best part of a decade so the buck stops right at his door, to suggest anything else given the resources at Romanov's disposal is just ridiculous.

 

He declared his worth at 42m did he not recently? It would take at least half that just to clear Hearts debt. It would take at least the other half to get Hearts challenging seriously over a long period of time.

 

Would you spend ALL of your money on a football club in a country with a league run by the likes of the SFA and SPL????

 

 

We were, not now. Maybe not for 3 more years. The SPL has changed, Hearts can either step up and look to challenge or be left sitting on the sidelines.

 

I'm sure there are dozens of multimillionaires just dying to own a football club with 20m of debt and a small stadium in a small city in a fixed league in a small country.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Sigh! Hearts deficit is the issue, not the debt. An important difference.

[Deevers]

Sigh! Hearts deficit is the issue, not the debt. An important difference.

Exactly - and that's the issue that has to be addressed now. It's crazy that some folk just don't seem to be able to get their heads round this.

[Adi Dassler]

Sigh! Hearts deficit is the issue, not the debt. An important difference.

 

Can you explain this to me in laymans terms please Geoff?

[Coco]

Sigh! Hearts deficit is the issue, not the debt. An important difference.

 

As ever, this distinction depends on the position at UBIG - on which the latest news was that there were issues at the aluminium plant I think.

[Charlie-Brown]

As ever, this distinction depends on the position at UBIG - on which the latest news was that there were issues at the aluminium plant I think.

 

The main issue is there are no obvious buyers for HMFC?

[Jezza]

The main issue is there are no obvious buyers for HMFC?

 

Not at the price Romanov wants.

 

He's not going to make money and is still losing it, why not just say he will give the club to the right guy?

[Charlie-Brown]

Not at the price Romanov wants.

 

He's not going to make money and is still losing it, why not just say he will give the club to the right guy?

 

Iam not sure there is anybody seriously interested in buying HMFC regardless of price. Nobody is chapping on the door trying to get Romanov to sell - even before discussing price.

[Coco]

Iam not sure there is anybody seriously interested in buying HMFC regardless of price. Nobody is chapping on the door trying to get Romanov to sell - even before discussing price.

 

The point about the debt is that UBIG's own financial profile will set the 'need' to deal with the debt one way or another.

 

I agree that there are no buyers for Hearts - unless someone else wants to burn a lot of money.

[Das Root]

The point about the debt is that UBIG's own financial profile will set the 'need' to deal with the debt one way or another.

 

I agree that there are no buyers for Hearts - unless someone else wants to burn a lot of money.

 

 

 

A buyer can always be found, either at the right price (club), wrong price (club) or right price (sell it piece by piece). The last option is the final get out clause, which will be taken if there is no other viable alternative. The second option keeps the fans happy, but does little for Romanov, the first is the fairytale ending all round, for Romanov and hopefully the fans.

[Das Root]

He declared his worth at 42m did he not recently? It would take at least half that just to clear Hearts debt. It would take at least the other half to get Hearts challenging seriously over a long period of time.

 

Would you spend ALL of your money on a football club in a country with a league run by the likes of the SFA and SPL????

 

 

 

 

I'm sure there are dozens of multimillionaires just dying to own a football club with 20m of debt and a small stadium in a small city in a fixed league in a small country.

 

 

So he does have the cash then? Good. Does he choose to spend it? No. Would I? No. But then I would've played a better game from the beginning. Romanov should have schmoozed, not antagonised everyone from SFA to referees with his rants. Albeit true, but we all knew that anyway. He should have used guile and took them all down from within. Whether or not it was a clash of cultures and he expected them to bark like their Lithuanian cousins I have no idea, but from day one he played the wrong game and lost.

 

And no there are not dozens of cash rich idiots out there, so Romanov has the 3 choices I mention in my post above to get himself out of Dodge.

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

So he does have the cash then? Good. Does he choose to spend it? No. Would I? No. But then I would've played a better game from the beginning. Romanov should have schmoozed, not antagonised everyone from SFA to referees with his rants. Albeit true, but we all knew that anyway. He should have used guile and took them all down from within. Whether or not it was a clash of cultures and he expected them to bark like their Lithuanian cousins I have no idea, but from day one he played the wrong game and lost.

 

And no there are not dozens of cash rich idiots out there, so Romanov has the 3 choices I mention in my post above to get himself out of Dodge.

 

He tried to schmooze, he was ridiculed for it. Personally I like that he doesn't lick the crusty shite from the piles on the SFA blazers' arseholes and instead points out that they treat every other club outside of the Old Firm with contempt. Romanov has made mistakes, no doubting it, but calling it like it is regarding the incompetent, myopic, ****-sticks that run our game, was never one of those mistakes in my book. Would you rather he crawled after them and got thrown a few measley crumbs, aye? No Ta.

[Charlie-Brown]

Even if Romanov sold Hearts for a pound, without any debt and a low annual rent/buy-back cost for Tynecastle it would still mean any new owner would have to make tough choices to bring Hearts spending down to the level of income. Romanov and previously the Bank of Scotland have let us enjoy a playing squad at a higher level than we can afford probably since about the start of 1997-98 season.

[Das Root]

Covering your points Das Root, one by one:

 

1. "Don't reduce your product on the pitch". We don't have a choice; we have to reduce it, because we've been spending miles more than we recouped, even when we were successful. You're asking for something that it's physically impossible for the club to deliver.

 

 

How is it? Can the club not find savings elsewhere? New suppliers with reduced costs. Lower ticket prices and target families, students, corporate to ensure a full stadium each home game then push refreshments sales with better products / new lines (renegotiating any associated supply contracts). Design new (better) merchandise, run a sales promotion on it to boost turnover. Replace the marketing dept with people who know what they are doing, and target new advertisers while providing a new range of advertising opportunities for them, open the ground facilities to more corporate events annually, run local events in the city to try to improve club image and bring in new faces on match day to help boost revenue generated. Hearts is a business as well as a football team. Boost one part to save flogging the shit out of the other. As once that other part is gone, the first part will start to fail too, but have no hope of saving when it does, at the very least a far more difficult challenge that will require victory on the pitch to accomplish...so why not just take that route to begin with?

 

 

2. Yes, their only interest is CL football; and as there's no pressure on them whatsoever now, I agree we probably won't be seeing the monster points totals of the recent past. Doesn't actually make a difference though; they'll still walk it, and will still close off the only avenue of financial reward available to any SPL club (and it's now less available to Celtic given the more difficult route to the group stage they'll face from next season onwards).

 

 

You speculate, same as I do.

 

 

3. "Romanov has the resources to clear that debt in full". Actually, given his recently declared wealth level, it's very open to question whether he even does - but beyond that, after everything he's already spent (read: spunked away, whether we were successful or not) on us, it's absolutely ridiculous - in fact, utterly outrageous - to now demand he just ploughs another 20 million plus in, just to keep the fans happy.

 

 

He has ?42m, the amount required to provide a zero balance is less than that. So yes, he does. Is it outrageous? No it's not. He bought the club with eyes wide open. He has a responsibility to the club. He may have bought it as a vanity project or for some nefarious reason, but when the contract was signed and the keys handed over it was up to him to turn Hearts around, financially and on the pitch. That was how he sold himself, he just failed to live up to his own perceived image. To give him any excuse to shirk his own responsibilities is utteryly outrageous.

 

 

And while he's made a great big mess in terms of the wage bill, it's also ridiculous to argue he could've made us profitable: not with a capacity of 17000, he couldn't. Hearts' biggest single problem is how low our capacity and gates are; to achieve the success every fan craves, we basically have to find at least another 10-15000 fans out of nowhere, and move to a much bigger stadium while we're at it. Piece of piss huh?

 

 

Not it's not ridiculous. Every company can be profitable if it is run correctly and spends less than it brings in. 10-15000 fans out of nowhere? I would imagine all those fans who were at the cup final are the droids you are looking for. Build a bigger stadium, put a competing team on the pitch, happy fecking days. It's not rocket science.

 

 

 

4. So does this "victory on the pitch" apply to all games? If it does, that clearly amounts to expecting a title challenge. Football fans want their club to be as successful as it can be; but many are realists within that, and only fools think it's OK to damn near kill the club stone dead just so "victory" can be achieved.

 

 

No of course it doesn't. If it did then those fans would be expecting a title challenge. Which would be silly. Mid-table English club fans do not expect a title win but they do expect their team to buy good players and ensure they win to at the very least maintain the same position as last season if not better it. Top of the table club fans, such as ours, expect a higher standard with Euro qualification each season. With newhun gone the expectations would be higher, if the club had any realistic chance of delivering. Which it currently doesn't. However I would wager other club fans sitting higher up than us are looking at the title and discussing how it could be achieved. Fans dream, football is about that. Only when reality bites you on the arse with 5th place do you pack those dreams away until August.

 

 

5. Continuing from the above: the whole point here is that football ceased to be a pure sport long, long ago now. Instead, it became a business; and when businesses continually spend much more than they take in, there's a problem. You talk about "financial astuteness" as though it's somehow irrelevant - which given what's happened at Rangers in recent times, defies belief to be honest. In short, if a club's finances aren't managed properly, before long, there is no football club to support.

 

 

There you go then, proving my point from above. Business it is, so advocating a stance on decimating one part while there are plenty of things you could do on the business side is poor planning. Killing it's main product will only kill it's main source of income. It's quite simple to grasp, certainly all the fans who no longer attend have. And yes to a fan, specifically the majority, astuteness is not something they care about. They pays their money, they expects their 3pts. Ask any Rangers fan, the majority would happily take 20yrs of victories, trophies and Euro campaigns than careful by-the-book financial astuteness, a healthy balance sheet throughout and very little in terms of silverware. You don't tend to consider how well the company you work for is doing financially, you just get on with your job and spend your pay packet end of month, the same applies here. You expect the club to exist, and manage itself correctly, just as you expect to have a good team on the pitch fighting for victory. To the fan majority it is a game, a competition, to the club it is a business.

 

 

6. Not following this at all. Are you saying that because one behemoth is no longer in the top flight, but the other is still very much there, the SPL is now miraculously winnable? Sure it's winnable; for one club and one club only.

 

 

And why isn't it winnable? You continue to judge on past history, but that history was based on two behemoths not one. And this one is weakened. Severely. In any situation, it will only reoccur exactly if the exact parts remain in the situation. It will alter slightly if parts slightly change. It can alter radically if parts radically change. The SPL is now the latter. Clubs will take points off a weakened Celtic, as has been shown by their current 5th position (albeit with one game in hand). Any club could mount a challenge now if they played a solid season, winning games against opposition and taking as many of the 12pts against Celtic as possible. The other 12pts normally needed to be taken from Rangers are now allocated to Dundee. Taking a simple look at Celtic's current and future total for this season (based on them maintaining current form), they will end the season with 61pts. A simplistic look of course, they could get better but they could also get worse. The parts of the SPL are radically different as they were from seasons past, so not even Mystic Meg could categorically state Celtic will walk the league as the evidence to date for this season (which is ALL we can judge on given the comprehensive change) does not truly bear that supposition out.

[Das Root]

He tried to schmooze, he was ridiculed for it. Personally I like that he doesn't lick the crusty shite from the piles on the SFA blazers' arseholes and instead points out that they treat every other club outside of the Old Firm with contempt. Romanov has made mistakes, no doubting it, but calling it like it is regarding the incompetent, myopic, ****-sticks that run our game, was never one of those mistakes in my book. Would you rather he crawled after them and got thrown a few measley crumbs, aye? No Ta.

 

 

Because obviously that is what I wrote? Erm no. Murray's stranglehold on Scottish Football was built up over time, the fact he owed Rangers certainly benefited to help put the structure in place, but that structure required maintenance and Murray was astute enough to know how. Romanov's first port of call should have been to Murray, make friends, build a base to fight from. Thus allowing the time required to put a plan in place that would eventually have Hearts at the top table, dictating the game with the OF.

 

Each and every one of the pricks running our game only cares about power and money. Give them both and you will get a share. Plan well and you will end up with more of a share than they were willing to give. Take them head on and try to force change, they will close ranks and portray you as a village idiot, character decimation is far more effective when you have the paps in your pocket. Romanov chose the latter route while I am positive he could very easily have run with the former. The former would have brought him so much more, as it would Hearts.

[Jammy T]

Das Root is on fire

 

Nice

[Charlie-Brown]

Das Root is on fire

 

Nice

 

On fire yes - unrealistic also. If Romanov doesn't have free funds to invest in HMFC or chooses not to in a football nation riddled with cronyism & corruption favouring TRFC then nobody else does. Proper profitable businesses struggle to attract investment finance & loans in the commercial sector but HMFC in a shrinking market with a history of massive overspends and struggling to constrain costs & income levels = no chance! Same for almost every other SPL club also so how would Das Root fund his expansionist plans?

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Can you explain this to me in laymans terms please Geoff?

 

Ok, the Romanov funding tap being turned off means that we need to break even in the current financial year.

 

If we break even, the debt of 24m approximately will remain static. That isn't being repaid due to Vlad stopping his subsidies. His subsidies have been funding wages that are unsustainable on our turnover.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

As ever, this distinction depends on the position at UBIG - on which the latest news was that there were issues at the aluminium plant I think.

 

 

Correct. And who knows what the UBIG balance sheet values HMFC at. After all, we know that the shares and debt value combined would be lucky to generate 5 to 10m. If your book value is 50m, you have a problem.

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

Because obviously that is what I wrote? Erm no. Murray's stranglehold on Scottish Football was built up over time, the fact he owed Rangers certainly benefited to help put the structure in place, but that structure required maintenance and Murray was astute enough to know how. Romanov's first port of call should have been He's got a cool name. 20 goal a season Portuguese sensation? I'll be having some of that... Better have designer stubble though.

 

Murray, make friends, build a base to fight from. Thus allowing the time required to put a plan in place that would eventually have Hearts at the top table, dictating the game with the OF.

 

Each and every one of the pricks running our game only cares about power and money. Give them both and you will get a share. Plan well and you will end up with more of a share than they were willing to give. Take them head on and try to force change, they will close ranks and portray you as a village idiot, character decimation is far more effective when you have the paps in your pocket. Romanov chose the latter route while I am positive he could very easily have run with the former. The former would have brought him so much more, as it would Hearts.

 

I am not sure I would want to sit within a lightyear of that top table to be honest, it would just be a case of joining those who were sucking the blood out of the game as a wee lap dog and screwing all the other teams who dislike the system as we do. No Ta, full scale rebuilding is required, not bought fealty and appeasement.

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

So he does have the cash then? Good. Does he choose to spend it? No. Would I? No. But then I would've played a better game from the beginning. Romanov should have schmoozed, not antagonised everyone from SFA to referees with his rants. Albeit true, but we all knew that anyway. He should have used guile and took them all down from within. Whether or not it was a clash of cultures and he expected them to bark like their Lithuanian cousins I have no idea, but from day one he played the wrong game and lost.

 

And no there are not dozens of cash rich idiots out there, so Romanov has the 3 choices I mention in my post above to get himself out of Dodge.

 

So not only do you expect Romanov - or any Hearts owner it seems - to spend almost all of his money on Hearts (remember he took over debt of over 20m so what applies now applied then) but you also expect him to be an expert diplomat and schmoozer with an understanding of Scottish culture and way of doing business.

 

You also expect him - from day 1 - to have the perfect plan in place for challenging Celtic.

 

Good luck finding this mythical being to be your new owner!! I guarantee there is no rich, diplomatic, Scottish, football-obsessed, patient, humble, young businessman waiting to take over Hearts. Who is out there are the people like Charles Green and the others who pretended to be interested in buying Rangers - self-publicists interested in some quick cash and a new toy to play with.

 

It will take a massive investment or a lot of luck to make Hearts challenge Celtic just once. It will take a new, bigger stadium and a large increase in supporters attending games to make them (or any other Scottish club) challenge consistently. Not to mention a new attitude from the media, other club owners and football administrators in this country.

 

Romanov knew this - hence the new stadium plans (also ridiculed) that were thwarted by red tape, and the attacks on the SFA, OF and media who jointly run our game. Anyone who thinks Hearts are going to find anyone with Romanov's resources or ambition is completely unrealistic. Whatever you think of The Rangers they are a much better long-term investment and much cheaper to buy - yet no-one credible wanted them. So why would anyone want Hearts.

 

Our best bet, and what my money would be on, is another Russian businessman or foreign consortium from Romanov's circle of contacts who do a deal with Romanov - perhaps renting the ground from him. I think that's our only option unless Romanov decides to take a massive haircut and write off the debt - not sure it's a better option than keeping Romanov himself to be honest.

[Francis Albert]

Glad romanov has paid the wages. Hopefully their are no more delays.

 

Somehow you get by without a "speaking through gritted teeth" smiley.

 

I doubt anyway that Vlad paid the wages.

[Jammy T]

On fire yes - unrealistic also. If Romanov doesn't have free funds to invest in HMFC or chooses not to in a football nation riddled with cronyism & corruption favouring TRFC then nobody else does.

 

What a crock of shyte. C-B "the Janny" trying to sweep away any notion that somebody could do better than Vlad might do.

 

There are very many people in the world with enough money to make a difference to Hearts, even in todays market.

 

To this day, Vlad's purchase of Hearts makes no sense, so the chances of another unusual takeover are no less than they were in 2005. You only need to look at the money being spent in London by Chinese, Russians, Africans, people from the Middle East. There is a lot of excesss money in individuals hands these days, just not Brits.

 

Indeed, with the circles that Vlad operates in I'd say that such a notion is less pie in the sky than it was when he came along, out of the blue. That doesnt mean I think it will or might happen.

 

In Vlads second season at Hearts both the club and the economy were a shambles. Yet we must have averaged attendances around the 15000 mark.

 

With the right owner, the right marketing, the right message of hope, the right pricing structure, even in the current environment, Hearts could get back to those figures. I never thought I'd see sell outs for the best part of 2 seasons at Hearts - ever. If we have done it once we can do it again, and we could do it with less money than Vlad spunked up the wall first time round.

[Charlie-Brown]

What a crock of shyte. C-B "the Janny" trying to sweep away any notion that somebody could do better than Vlad might do.

 

There are very many people in the world with enough money to make a difference to Hearts, even in todays market.

 

To this day, Vlad's purchase of Hearts makes no sense, so the chances of another unusual takeover are no less than they were in 2005. You only need to look at the money being spent in London by Chinese, Russians, Africans, people from the Middle East. There is a lot of excesss money in individuals hands these days, just not Brits.

 

Indeed, with the circles that Vlad operates in I'd say that such a notion is less pie in the sky than it was when he came along, out of the blue. That doesnt mean I think it will or might happen.

 

In Vlads second season at Hearts both the club and the economy were a shambles. Yet we must have averaged attendances around the 15000 mark.

 

With the right owner, the right marketing, the right message of hope, the right pricing structure, even in the current environment, Hearts could get back to those figures. I never thought I'd see sell outs for the best part of 2 seasons at Hearts - ever. If we have done it once we can do it again, and we could do it with less money than Vlad spunked up the wall first time round.

 

Even the 1998 Cup winning team which cost us a lot less than Romanov/Burley team in wages & transfer fees still saw us lose ?3M that season (a then record loss for the club).

 

You need to spend money to attract the crowds but the money required costs more than Tynie can generate ergo we need a bigger stadium but we don't generate enough crowds to justify it to any commercial financier so it would be a leap of faith investment.

[Jammy T]

Even the 1998 Cup winning team which cost us a lot less than Romanov/Burley team in wages & transfer fees still saw us lose ?3M that season (a then record loss for the club).

 

You need to spend money to attract the crowds but the money required costs more than Tynie can generate ergo we need a bigger stadium but we don't generate enough crowds to justify it to any commercial financier so it would be a leap of faith investment.

 

You need to spend money to attract the crowds. In theory yes

 

You do not need to spend the money that Vlad did though.

 

In actual fact all Hearts need to attract crowds is to be competing at the top of the league and play attractive football.

 

The SPL is so gash that that doesnt need a hell of a lot of money.

 

A good manager, good scouting, good youth players.

 

Its not that difficult. Motherwell can do it, but they simply dont have the indigenous fan base to build on it.

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

What a crock of shyte. C-B "the Janny" trying to sweep away any notion that somebody could do better than Vlad might do.

 

There are very many people in the world with enough money to make a difference to Hearts, even in todays market.

 

To this day, Vlad's purchase of Hearts makes no sense, so the chances of another unusual takeover are no less than they were in 2005. You only need to look at the money being spent in London by Chinese, Russians, Africans, people from the Middle East. There is a lot of excesss money in individuals hands these days, just not Brits.

 

Indeed, with the circles that Vlad operates in I'd say that such a notion is less pie in the sky than it was when he came along, out of the blue. That doesnt mean I think it will or might happen.

 

In Vlads second season at Hearts both the club and the economy were a shambles. Yet we must have averaged attendances around the 15000 mark.

 

With the right owner, the right marketing, the right message of hope, the right pricing structure, even in the current environment, Hearts could get back to those figures. I never thought I'd see sell outs for the best part of 2 seasons at Hearts - ever. If we have done it once we can do it again, and we could do it with less money than Vlad spunked up the wall first time round.

 

Let's do the sums:

 

Anyone buying Hearts will have to take on the debt and pay it off or transfer it to a friendly bank (not many of those left) - ?25m

They will need to pay for the stadium and playing staff, etc - ?15m if Romanov sticks to his guns or ?1 if not

 

So that's 25-40m just to own a club with some debt, few playing assets and a ground that might not be fit for purpose. That's even before any operating costs.

 

Immediately the team will need investment of 5-15m just to mount some sort of challenge and appease supporters. The new owner will also have to spend money either improving Tynecastle or looking for a new ground - this will be a messy process given Edinburgh Council's reputation and fans being split on leaving or staying.

 

If no-one except Romanov would buy Hearts with the same debt and a deal in place to sell the ground at the height of a housing boom 7 years ago, how are there "many people in the world" now willing to buy the club and spend around ?50m potentially over 2 or 3 years (and still be miles behind Celtic and probably Rangers in terms of spending power) when we are still experiencing the worst global financial crisis in history?

 

Even if someone by some miracle does want to buy a Scottish football club in a 'fixed' league, I would say Hibs, Aberdeen and Rangers all have more potential in terms of their current financial state, stadium situations, etc, and would cost less to buy right now. If there was a Hearts fan with pots of cash, he would have surfaced by now. There isn't - apart from Romanov who no matter what some people think obviously has developed an emotional connection to the club - no-one bothers to slam Rangers and the SFA like he does without that sort of connection.

 

By the way, going by their recent accounts, Celtic gambled 7m to win the league last year and get CL football. One decision against them against an average Swedish team in the qualifiers this year and they would be in trouble right now. That's how risky it is spending money in Scottish football.

[Charlie-Brown]

You need to spend money to attract the crowds. In theory yes

 

You do not need to spend the money that Vlad did though.

 

In actual fact all Hearts need to attract crowds is to be competing at the top of the league and play attractive football.

 

The SPL is so gash that that doesnt need a hell of a lot of money.

 

A good manager, good scouting, good youth players.

 

Its not that difficult. Motherwell can do it, but they simply dont have the indigenous fan base to build on it.

 

Of course you can be far more financially efficient as Motherwell & Dundee Utd have proven but it is unrealistic to imagine you can put in any serious challenge to Celtic (& The Rangers) for more than 1 or at most 2 consecutive seasons without your team and/or management team being stripped apart, broken up and requiring to start a whole new cycle of team building to mount another challenge later on. Any team or player that shows a reasonable amount of success is simply plucked from Hearts / Hibs / Dundee Utd / Motherwell / Killie etc either by richer English clubs or the Glasgow clubs. That won't change anytime soon.

 

As Oakland A's GM famously says in Moneyball "There are rich clubs and there are poor clubs....then there's fifty feet of crap...and then there's us!"

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

You need to spend money to attract the crowds. In theory yes

 

You do not need to spend the money that Vlad did though.

 

In actual fact all Hearts need to attract crowds is to be competing at the top of the league and play attractive football.

 

The SPL is so gash that that doesnt need a hell of a lot of money.

 

A good manager, good scouting, good youth players.

 

Its not that difficult. Motherwell can do it, but they simply dont have the indigenous fan base to build on it.

 

Motherwell went into admin 10 years ago and got their house in order that way. Any 'success' they've had since then is built on that. Not really the best model.

[Jammy T]

Let's do the sums:

 

Anyone buying Hearts will have to take on the debt and pay it off or transfer it to a friendly bank (not many of those left) - ?25m

They will need to pay for the stadium and playing staff, etc - ?15m if Romanov sticks to his guns or ?1 if not

 

So that's 25-40m just to own a club with some debt, few playing assets and a ground that might not be fit for purpose. That's even before any operating costs.

 

Immediately the team will need investment of 5-15m just to mount some sort of challenge and appease supporters. The new owner will also have to spend money either improving Tynecastle or looking for a new ground - this will be a messy process given Edinburgh Council's reputation and fans being split on leaving or staying.

 

If no-one except Romanov would buy Hearts with the same debt and a deal in place to sell the ground at the height of a housing boom 7 years ago, how are there "many people in the world" now willing to buy the club and spend around ?50m potentially over 2 or 3 years (and still be miles behind Celtic and probably Rangers in terms of spending power) when we are still experiencing the worst global financial crisis in history?

 

Even if someone by some miracle does want to buy a Scottish football club in a 'fixed' league, I would say Hibs, Aberdeen and Rangers all have more potential in terms of their current financial state, stadium situations, etc, and would cost less to buy right now. If there was a Hearts fan with pots of cash, he would have surfaced by now. There isn't - apart from Romanov who no matter what some people think obviously has developed an emotional connection to the club - no-one bothers to slam Rangers and the SFA like he does without that sort of connection.

 

By the way, going by their recent accounts, Celtic gambled 7m to win the league last year and get CL football. One decision against them against an average Swedish team in the qualifiers this year and they would be in trouble right now. That's how risky it is spending money in Scottish football.

 

I didnt say there were many people in the world wanting to do anything. C-B said if Romanov couldnt afford or didnt want to put the money into Hearts then nobody would. That is just bollox. He doesnt know that at all.

 

Ignore Vlad being an intransigent ersehole, and ignore the fact that we would be doing ridiculously well to attract any new owner.

 

What is Heart of Midlothian FC worth as a football club.

 

circa ?25m in debt - so we start at -?25m. Our income is less than our outgoings so that is another minus, say -?2m. So -?27m in total on the liabilities side.

 

A squad of players at current and potential future market of value of, lets say, ?5m. Tynecastle/land (if we still own it that is) worth say ?8m. Good will and SPL status - I dont know - what did that Yorkshire dick value oldco's at? Say ?1m. So ?14m assets (but with a ?2m defecit per annum at present)

 

So fairly generous positive numbers there still means that liabilities v assets = minus ?13m.

 

So ok its back of fag packet but a proper valuation of Hearts, any economist would tell you would say that Vlad would be doing well to take a haircut of 50% on the debt of Hearts as a lump sum. Lets face it, if he wants his debt back and a profit at Hearts by staying at the club it will never happen.

 

So in short, my view would be that a very generous offer for Hearts would be ?13m, clear of debt. And I'd say a fund of ?7m to operate the club whilst we sort things out. So ?20m. There are many thousands of people in the world with that sort of money as individuals, never mind what a consortium could pull together. Do any of them want to have anything to do with Hearts? Probably not. Did anyone predict Vlad's arrival? No. Did it make any sense? Not really.

 

The question is will Vlad ever see sense? The answer - why change a habit of a lifetime, so no. But otherwise I genuinely dont see what his out is.

[Jammy T]

Motherwell went into admin 10 years ago and got their house in order that way. Any 'success' they've had since then is built on that. Not really the best model.

 

This doesnt really make sense. Motherwell are where they are on very little money. How they got there is largely irrelevant.

 

Motherwell's recent rise has more to do with Gannon, Brown and McCall than anything else.

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

This doesnt really make sense. Motherwell are where they are on very little money. How they got there is largely irrelevant.

 

Motherwell's recent rise has more to do with Gannon, Brown and McCall than anything else.

 

No it's not. If Hearts had done what Motherwell did (they got no pojnts deduction remember) we would have been debt free by the time Romanov came along. That would have ben a vastly different base to build on.

[Charlie-Brown]

I didnt say there were many people in the world wanting to do anything. C-B said if Romanov couldnt afford or didnt want to put the money into Hearts then nobody would. That is just bollox. He doesnt know that at all.

 

Ignore Vlad being an intransigent ersehole, and ignore the fact that we would be doing ridiculously well to attract any new owner.

 

What is Heart of Midlothian FC worth as a football club.

 

circa ?25m in debt - so we start at -?25m. Our income is less than our outgoings so that is another minus, say -?2m. So -?27m in total on the liabilities side.

 

A squad of players at current and potential future market of value of, lets say, ?5m. Tynecastle/land (if we still own it that is) worth say ?8m. Good will and SPL status - I dont know - what did that Yorkshire dick value oldco's at? Say ?1m. So ?14m assets (but with a ?2m defecit per annum at present)

 

So fairly generous positive numbers there still means that liabilities v assets = minus ?13m.

 

So ok its back of fag packet but a proper valuation of Hearts, any economist would tell you would say that Vlad would be doing well to take a haircut of 50% on the debt of Hearts as a lump sum. Lets face it, if he wants his debt back and a profit at Hearts by staying at the club it will never happen.

 

So in short, my view would be that a very generous offer for Hearts would be ?13m, clear of debt. And I'd say a fund of ?7m to operate the club whilst we sort things out. So ?20m. There are many thousands of people in the world with that sort of money as individuals, never mind what a consortium could pull together. Do any of them want to have anything to do with Hearts? Probably not. Did anyone predict Vlad's arrival? No. Did it make any sense? Not really.

 

The question is will Vlad ever see sense? The answer - why change a habit of a lifetime, so no. But otherwise I genuinely dont see what his out is.

 

Jammy - Romanov already was our Black Swan event, ie something totally unexpected, unpredicted and turned up out of nowhere, provided us with a shedload of money and let us continue to live way beyond our means without having to pay any of it back or sell our stadium & decant to Murrayfield as Robinson's mismanagement had left us.

 

No other SPL club in the last decade got such a lucky break as we did in 2004-05 season nor has anybody since. Do you really think lightening will strike us twice and we'll get another wealthy owner anytime soon? It could happen ........... it's unlikely though especially as when VR bought us the world was awash with cheap credit, now it's not - well not for private businesses anyway.

[Jammy T]

No it's not. If Hearts had done what Motherwell did (they got no pojnts deduction remember) we would have been debt free by the time Romanov came along. That would have ben a vastly different base to build on.

 

Debt wasnt an issue for Vlad

 

In 3 years he added about another ?20m to our debt.

 

Us being in debt had no impact on how Vlad operated the club