Guardian Article on Hearts

[bistokid]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/sep/26/hearts.romanov

 

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

[Goldstone Wonder]

"Gloating amateur economists, meanwhile, continue to predict that their notion of the famous old ground being turned into flats within two years is proving more and more prescient by the week. There is no fundamental basis to these theories, mind you, other than Romanov being eastern European, therefore apparently untrustworthy, and owning a little-known bank with which Hearts have borrowing facilities."

 

An excellent description of the hobonomics in full effect over the road.

 

A balanced, well-written article. Not often you can say that about a Scottish sports journalist these days. Well done, Ewan.

[Commander Harris]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/sep/26/hearts.romanov

 

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

excellent article, I'd agree with a lot of what is written there.

 

Ewan Murray, no surprise.

[wavydavy]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/sep/26/hearts.romanov

 

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

 

Slightly different slant on things to the Daily Ranger.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

An excellent summation of things. I presume Ewan Murray is the author of the piece and shows why he'll never get a job with either of the main Scottish tabloids because there is far too much rationality and common sense in that article.

[Benzinho]

Ah, proper journalism. What a breath of fresh air.

 

The bit about UBIG working on a 90 day payment period rather than a 30 day period, as is common practice in the UK, is particularly interesting. It would explain a lot of what's been heard before re non payment of bills here and there.

 

I presume there would be a reason why they do this. Perhaps someone with more expertise on the matter than me could explain.

[wavydavy]

Ah, proper journalism. What a breath of fresh air.

 

The bit about UBIG working on a 90 day payment period rather than a 30 day period, as is common practice in the UK, is particularly interesting. It would explain a lot of what's been heard before re non payment of bills here and there.

 

I presume there would be a reason why they do this. Perhaps someone with more expertise on the matter than me could explain.

 

Yes it means they can keep the money in their own account for an extra 60 days.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Ah, proper journalism. What a breath of fresh air.

 

The bit about UBIG working on a 90 day payment period rather than a 30 day period, as is common practice in the UK, is particularly interesting. It would explain a lot of what's been heard before re non payment of bills here and there.

 

I presume there would be a reason why they do this. Perhaps someone with more expertise on the matter than me could explain.

 

My initial thoughts on this would depend on how liquid the assets of UBIG are. Aside from Ukio, their interests seem to involve aluminium production, property etc., not exactly industries with rapid cash flow. Therefore, UBIG themselves wouldn't have a vault of cash to transfer to Edinburgh every week. That said, there is no reason why they couldn't guarantee a facility with one of the banks, either in Lithuania or in Scotland, by pledging some of their assets as collateral.

[Fulham Jambo]

it's nice to read a balanced article. This should be made a sticky

[portobellojambo1]

Slightly different slant on things to the Daily Ranger.

 

The fact the article written in The Guardian was penned by a journalist is the basic reason for that.

[Benzinho]

Yes it means they can keep the money in their own account for an extra 60 days.

 

I thought that would be the case, although given the problems that seem to arise from it in terms of non-payment, it seems to me that that damages their reputation and thus makes people less likely to invest or do business with them (in the UK) and therefore hurts their long term prospects, in particular their desire to move into the UK market. Surely that would outweigh any short term benefit of the extra 60 days in the account?

[Jambof3tornado]

Yes it means they can keep the money in their own account for an extra 60 days.

 

Given that most companies that we owe money to will not kick up too much fuss I cannot see why its a problem to be later than the 30 days with payments,given your reason above. The only problem occurs when joe bloggs goes to the rags or some newspaper hack hears a juicy bit that will sell papers.

 

Keep up the good work Vlad!!!(yes there are still sheep out there)

[winston churchill]

i'll be listening out for the bit below tonight;)

 

 

 

 

lunchtime will see the manager, Csaba Laszlo, prompted into an explanation of a set of circumstances which have nothing to do with him. Amid the madness, Laszlo takes his third-placed team to Dundee United for the most eye-catching match on the SPL card tomorrow.

[the voice from above]

I'd never come accross Ewan Murray before, didn't think there were any considered Hearts related views available in the press, very happy to have been proved wrong...

[bighalders]

Great article well balanced and thought through

[Wish]

it's nice to read a balanced article. This should be made a sticky

 

Along with being a sticky on hobos.net

[dwross1973]

wise up its just another paper

[marshallschunkychicken]

Excellent article.

 

What a difference when someone puts thought into an article, rather than the requirement to sensationalise for circulation purposes.

[Fulham Jambo]

Ah, proper journalism. What a breath of fresh air.

 

The bit about UBIG working on a 90 day payment period rather than a 30 day period, as is common practice in the UK, is particularly interesting. It would explain a lot of what's been heard before re non payment of bills here and there.

 

I presume there would be a reason why they do this. Perhaps someone with more expertise on the matter than me could explain.

 

I work for Premier Foods we are a large food producer - the biggest in the UK and make Hovis, Bachelors, Mr Kipling to name but a few. Our standardinvoice terms are 60 days but on some of our purchases - 90 days. it's not uncommon in 'heavy' industry for terms to be 90 days - ie lumps of Aluminium (Vlad's business) or 40,000 tonnes of tomatoes (our business)

[jambo-rocker]

interesting read, something of a rarity in scottish newspapers

[joe.gausden]

If only the likes of Ralston, Leckie, Waddell et al went to the same journo school as Ewan maybe they wouldn't be classed as monkeys by Romanov and might actually get info from the club.

[winston churchill]

wise up its just another paper

 

 

 

hoof

[loveofthegame]

V interesting and well balanced article. Being serious is Murray a Jambo or just a decent journo who is able to leave out West Coast bias and ****e from what he writes?

[Goldstone Wonder]

V interesting and well balanced article. Being serious is Murray a Jambo or just a decent journo who is able to leave out West Coast bias and ****e from what he writes?

 

Ewan is a jambo. Has been known to frequent here.

[Rabbie_Burns]

Just a shame that Edinburgh's very own 'The Scotsman & Co' cant come up with objective articles such as this about the city's greatest football club

[sjh1874]

I work in construction and if all our outstanding money was settled in 90 days we would be very happy indeed. Some accounts take many months.

 

[Chris Benoit]

Very good article, not a single thing in it i could disagree with (never thought i'd see the day i said that!)

[alwaysthereinspirit]

Yes it means they can keep the money in their own account for an extra 60 days.

 

60 Days of extra interest gained. Think I'll call my morgage company tomorrow see if they'll let me get on board with that payment plan..

[LAIRDY14]

Ewan is a jambo. Has been known to frequent here.

 

His selection of songs on the Tynie Arms jukebox is rank though!

[portobellojambo1]

V interesting and well balanced article. Being serious is Murray a Jambo or just a decent journo who is able to leave out West Coast bias and ****e from what he writes?

 

Ewan is very much a Jambo.

[givememychoice]

I run my own business and tend to have payment due in 14 days from the invoice. Now, various people come back to me and will only pay in 30 days. Now, legally, I have the right to charge interest on the money after the 14 days (its in the contract), but i always ignore assuming i am paid under their terms.Its not ideal, but i figure the good will is worth it. But what it does show is plenty of scottish owned companies will ignore your payment terms and use their own. However if an eastern european company does it (90 days in this case) people panic. Yes, it might generate more good will for the bills to be paid in 30 days, but he is looking out for his business and actually, given the large sums often involved, that interest could add a fair whack on. All in all, from a (british) moral point of view, it might not be great, but from a business point of view, its a good plan.

[colinmaroon]

Ah, proper journalism. What a breath of fresh air.

 

The bit about UBIG working on a 90 day payment period rather than a 30 day period, as is common practice in the UK, is particularly interesting. It would explain a lot of what's been heard before re non payment of bills here and there.

 

I presume there would be a reason why they do this. Perhaps someone with more expertise on the matter than me could explain.

 

The recognised time given for payment of invoices in the UK is normally nett 30 days!

 

In fact, if you asked suppliers of many companies, including many of the big players, you'll find that it's often not until close to the 90 days that the bills are settled.

 

 

 

 

 

...............

[spacerjoe]

If only the likes of Ralston, Leckie, Waddell et al went to the same journo school as Ewan maybe they wouldn't be classed as monkeys by Romanov and might actually get info from the club.

 

Would be nice, for sure.

 

Bet they wouldn't sell as many papers though...

[RussG]

Wow, someone has finally written a well researched factually article in relation to Hearts. Sadly it says everything about Scotland that most football followers will shun it in favour of the usual west coast pap.

[va va voom]

If Only Chick Dung could read some of these articles, then he would have a wee bit of a clue in how to write his own blog on the BBC website!

[7628mm]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/sep/26/hearts.romanov

 

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

 

Small extract.

 

The basic issue of failing to reward employees will and should stick in people's throats. Some of them, office staff earning perhaps ?6 an hour, will have been hit considerably harder by a 48-hour delay than others. In general terms, it cannot aid morale when you are unsure if your pay packet will arrive on schedule or not. The players aside, there are decent, hard-working people at Tynecastle who deserve better.

 

I particularly like the bit in bold

 

It would appear that the normal staff cannot be accused of being wage thiefs unlike........................

[Jam Tarts 1874]

I work for Premier Foods we are a large food producer - the biggest in the UK and make Hovis, Bachelors, Mr Kipling to name but a few. Our standardinvoice terms are 60 days but on some of our purchases - 90 days. it's not uncommon in 'heavy' industry for terms to be 90 days - ie lumps of Aluminium (Vlad's business) or 40,000 tonnes of tomatoes (our business)

 

Thanks for confirming how business works across the UK. I think people do try and make too much of Hearts "non-payment" stories.

 

It is worth noting that from inspection of Hearts' accounts to 31.7.07. Hearts are owed almost as much money by "trade debtors" as they owe to "trade creditors".

[Jam Tarts 1874]

Small extract.

 

The basic issue of failing to reward employees will and should stick in people's throats. Some of them, office staff earning perhaps ?6 an hour, will have been hit considerably harder by a 48-hour delay than others. In general terms, it cannot aid morale when you are unsure if your pay packet will arrive on schedule or not. The players aside, there are decent, hard-working people at Tynecastle who deserve better.

 

I particularly like the bit in bold

 

It would appear that the normal staff cannot be accused of being wage thiefs unlike........................

 

I have had my salary delayed in the past by much larger organisations than Hearts, I think you are making too much of it.

[spacerjoe]

I work for Premier Foods we are a large food producer - the biggest in the UK and make Hovis, Bachelors, Mr Kipling to name but a few. Our standardinvoice terms are 60 days but on some of our purchases - 90 days. it's not uncommon in 'heavy' industry for terms to be 90 days - ie lumps of Aluminium (Vlad's business) or 40,000 tonnes of tomatoes (our business)

 

Were your payment terms not agreed with you suppliers though? I know in my company they are. If Hearts have agreed 30 days, they have to pay in 30 days.

 

The 90 day factor is moot.

[monkfish1979]

If Only Chick Dung could read

 

'Nuff said.

[Goodfella]

I'm studying Journalism at Uni right now and all I can say from reading that article is what a difference it is to the Record and Sun's writing.

 

Clearly more insight and research has gone into this article than anything on the rags polluting Scotland's newstand these days, with "The Record understands..." being a key example of shoddy, lazy journalism which is usually just fictitious stories and blatant lies used to sell copies.

[7628mm]

I have had my salary delayed in the past by much larger organisations than Hearts, I think you are making too much of it.

 

I think that you have perhaps missundertsood my point which is.

 

The office staff are very hard working people and the journo hints that some of the playing staff might not have the same work ethic

[Diego10]

It's a good balanced article, not overly positive and not obsessing and extrapolating on the negatives. The sad thing for me is that the journalists in the rags are just as capable of writing that kind of article but think they have to write for the lowest common denominator because they are actively encouraged to sensationalise events.

[Seymour M Hersh]

It's a good balanced article, not overly positive and not obsessing and extrapolating on the negatives. The sad thing for me is that the journalists in the rags are just as capable of writing that kind of article but think they have to write for the lowest common denominator because they are actively encouraged to sensationalise events.

 

I honestly don't think they are. I think you're absolutely correct to say they head straight for the lowest common denominator (old firm bigot) when writing articles. I mean having heard them on the radio the English language appears a distant relative to most of them.

[Diego10]

I honestly don't think they are. I think you're absolutely correct to say they head straight for the lowest common denominator (old firm bigot) when writing articles. I mean having heard them on the radio the English language appears a distant relative to most of them.

 

I'd except the 'celebrity' columnists, but although folk like Keith Jackson are odious little rumourmongers, I'll lay dollars to doughnuts that he could write for the Guardian no problem at all and knock out better quality than he currently does. Tabloids pay better though and the punters of those papers will put up with dross and that's what they get.

[K1874M]

Lots of companies work on 90 days now... one that springs to mind is Dell.

 

On the back of what Ewan has wrote, would you not love to see Ewan

and "insert rag scribbler's name" have a live intellectual debate on air!

 

Chick Dung vrs Ewan Murray debating live! I'd pay good money.

[7628mm]

It's a good balanced article, not overly positive and not obsessing and extrapolating on the negatives. The sad thing for me is that the journalists in the rags are just as capable of writing that kind of article but think they have to write for the lowest common denominator because they are actively encouraged to sensationalise events.

 

It is perhaps possible that some of the journos in the rags are just as capable of writing that kind of article.

 

They do however work for the red tops and not the broadsheets and as such are targeting a completely different reader.

 

Keep it simple and sensationalist for the red top reader

Keep it real and well constructed for the broadsheet reader

horses for courses

I bet that the Gaurdian does not sell well in scotland

 

I seem to remember being told that many moons ago when the government papped a load of "anthrax" on Gruinard island the Gaurdian changed their title to Gruinard for a day.

[redm]

Lots of companies work on 90 days now... one that springs to mind is Dell.

 

On the back of what Ewan has wrote, would you not love to see Ewan

and "insert rag scribbler's name" have a live intellectual debate on air!

 

Chick Dung vrs Ewan Murray debating live! I'd pay good money.

 

Tell Talk107, they might invite them on for another one of those debate things. They like stuff like that. I'd love to hear broadsheet and tabloid scribblers crossing swords on the topic of Scottish football in general, not just Hearts.

 

Oy Talk 107...if you can see this....you may theft this idea...

[K1874M]

Tell Talk107, they might invite them on for another one of those debate things. They like stuff like that. I'd love to hear broadsheet and tabloid scribblers crossing swords on the topic of Scottish football in general, not just Hearts.

 

Oy Talk 107...if you can see this....you may theft this idea for a small fee payable to K1874M's drinking account...

 

Cheers RedM.... I'll keep my eye out on the cheques!

[manxjambo]

What UBIG is doing, is exactly what every British Bank does - delay paying to the last minute. Nothing untoward in this practice. If anything, good financial housekeeping.