Balance Sheet

[Deevers]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

[Guest]

Crackpot Lithuania businessman aside

 

Massively reducing the debt (Gordon/Bednar/Skacel/Barca/Berra) and getting the likes of Makela & Pinila off the wage bill are all good news.

 

Means the finances are heading in the right direction. That can only be good for the club

[kevmacd]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

 

Or perhaps he's just more interested in making the club totally self sufficient? Sort of as he's said he's wanted to do for a wee while now and something that most hobos have said was an impossibility at Hearts?

[Spellczech]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

 

I think in this climate he?d be lucky to find a buyer, especially if there is any debt whatsoever and the club is not self-sustaining. Organic growth is the key to Hearts future and I?m happy enough to see players being sold at profits. The Berra deal alone wipes out the waste that was Beslija.

 

It makes you wonder that a club that has never bought a player for more than 850k and has sold several for more than 2 Million could have so much debt! We sure don?t fund this club for the way it was being run, and Vlad paid 12Mill for his early mistakes in the debt for equity swap (which had the added bonus for him of consolidating his hold). Too many highly paid players not contributing enough. I hope that the time taken to agree personal terms with Balogh is indicative that the club is no longer paying OTT wages, and even that the wages are performance related.

 

I think there will be a glut of footballers on the market in the summer and deals will be possible. If Neilson is on multi-thousands because he got his last deal just after Burley left then we have to let him go as he is a solid footballer, not a particularly gifted one...

[Guest]

Be interested to see whatthe next step is in reducing the debt though. Driver aside (& maybe Kingston) we've sold off all of our best players.

 

Where can we now get more millions to reduce the debt?

[Deevers]

Be interested to see whatthe next step is in reducing the debt though. Driver aside (& maybe Kingston) we've sold off all of our best players.

 

Where can we now get more millions to reduce the debt?

 

There is still Jonsson after that and if his recent interview is to believe he is interested ensuring a progression of our U/19's into the first team as soon as any potential is recognised. I'll be interesting to see if Glen, Templeton and McGowan are introduced into the side as this season progresses.

 

I'm pretty sure that there will be a big restructuring of the side during the summer. and it will be interesting to see which of the players currently due to leave in the summer when their contracts terminate, are offered new deals.

 

We keep hearing that the "New Stand" is still on track - and I think that maybe this is what Romanov really has his eye on at the moment.

[Guest JamboRobbo]

I think in this climate he?d be lucky to find a buyer, especially if there is any debt whatsoever and the club is not self-sustaining. Organic growth is the key to Hearts future and I?m happy enough to see players being sold at profits. The Berra deal alone wipes out the waste that was Beslija.

 

It makes you wonder that a club that has never bought a player for more than 850k and has sold several for more than 2 Million could have so much debt! We sure don?t fund this club for the way it was being run, and Vlad paid 12Mill for his early mistakes in the debt for equity swap (which had the added bonus for him of consolidating his hold). Too many highly paid players not contributing enough. I hope that the time taken to agree personal terms with Balogh is indicative that the club is no longer paying OTT wages, and even that the wages are performance related.

 

I think there will be a glut of footballers on the market in the summer and deals will be possible. If Neilson is on multi-thousands because he got his last deal just after Burley left then we have to let him go as he is a solid footballer, not a particularly gifted one...

 

Agree with a lot of that, although I do wonder if perhaps the "time taken to agree the Balogh deal" was simply that the club held off annoucing it till the last day, so that at least we had someone "coming in".

[bighusref]

Agree with a lot of that, although I do wonder if perhaps the "time taken to agree the Balogh deal" was simply that the club held off annoucing it till the last day, so that at least we had someone "coming in".

 

Agreed.

 

I don't think we tried to sign a defender or a striker.

 

As for the balance sheet, at a rough guesstimate our debt was around the ?40 Million mark (wasn't it?), we sold Craig Gordon, Roman Bednar and Andrius Velicka bringing in around ?11 Million (?2.5 Million for Bednar, ?1 Million for Velicka and we must have about ?8 of the Gordon deal by now) for the club. After the ?12 Million share buy back we should see a club in less than ?20 Million debt. I think that we will see a debt around the early to mid twenties of Millions.

[winningways]

Reducing the debt needs to be a priority.Many promising youngsters as berra,gordon were at one point and have then been sold on to reap early investment and a good profit for the club.

I am sure with the youth policy we now have in place there will be a few more follow through and sold on for good sums at a later date and improving the balance sheet.Majority of clubs now are selling clubs and football teams are no different to other businesses caught up in the current economic downturn.

We are maybe fortunate that Vlads bank underwrite our debt or maybe the previous bank we used would be calling in the debt.

Club cant sustain the large debt we have at present.

[Gerd Muller]

With the financial results due in March, will the ?2.5M for Berra be shown or will that be further down the line? The wages that are/were due to Christophe Berra, Anthony Basso, Audrius Ksanavicius, Juho Makela, Matej Rapnik, Dumitru Copil, Craig Sives, Ciaran Coll, Jordon Love, Shaun Kelly, Alistair Devine, and Sean Mackle (copied from official site) must be some saving over the course from now til the summer. Will Basso and Makela have been paid off? Meaning a negotiation on the salary that they would have received?

 

The next financial results, what will it contain? Will it show the Bednar and Gordon transfer fee's? Will it show the ?12 debt equity?

[bighusref]

With the financial results due in March, will the ?2.5M for Berra be shown or will that be further down the line? The wages that are/were due to Christophe Berra, Anthony Basso, Audrius Ksanavicius, Juho Makela, Matej Rapnik, Dumitru Copil, Craig Sives, Ciaran Coll, Jordon Love, Shaun Kelly, Alistair Devine, and Sean Mackle (copied from official site) must be some saving over the course from now til the summer. Will Basso and Makela have been paid off? Meaning a negotiation on the salary that they would have received?

 

The next financial results, what will it contain? Will it show the Bednar and Gordon transfer fee's? Will it show the ?12 debt equity?

 

Berra's money will not show, neither will the recent released players, the sales of Gordon, Bednar and any other players from that time should show, as should the equity swap.

[super_vlad]

With the financial results due in March, will the ?2.5M for Berra be shown or will that be further down the line? The wages that are/were due to Christophe Berra, Anthony Basso, Audrius Ksanavicius, Juho Makela, Matej Rapnik, Dumitru Copil, Craig Sives, Ciaran Coll, Jordon Love, Shaun Kelly, Alistair Devine, and Sean Mackle (copied from official site) must be some saving over the course from now til the summer. Will Basso and Makela have been paid off? Meaning a negotiation on the salary that they would have received?

 

The next financial results, what will it contain? Will it show the Bednar and Gordon transfer fee's? Will it show the ?12 debt equity?

 

I reckon these guys must have being paid off, i'm not sure how much of there contracts would have being paid tho. In the terms 0f Makela, we should have paid him nothing as he is a wage thief of the highest order, he had chances to leave but was happy taken the 7k a week for feck all !

[Victorian]

let's just hope the ?12M debt for equity swap was followed through to the end and not ditched without word. can anyone confirm?

 

31/07/07 accounts, debt circa ?36M.

 

gordon ?8M (?1M to follow)

bednar ?2M

debt/equity ?12M

 

?36M less ?22M = ?14M

 

further operating losses to 31/07/08.... ?

 

i expect the debt should be no worse than ?20M - ?22M

 

we shall see.

[naeclue]

Agreed.

 

I don't think we tried to sign a defender or a striker.

 

As for the balance sheet, at a rough guesstimate our debt was around the ?40 Million mark (wasn't it?), we sold Craig Gordon, Roman Bednar and Andrius Velicka bringing in around ?11 Million (?2.5 Million for Bednar, ?1 Million for Velicka and we must have about ?8 of the Gordon deal by now) for the club. After the ?12 Million share buy back we should see a club in less than ?20 Million debt. I think that we will see a debt around the early to mid twenties of Millions.

 

Only problem is that we were running at loss at the same time. Wages at 132% of turnover, so we are probably building debts at a rate of 7-8 million a year.

 

Also no European football for a while, and dropping season ticket/attendances/corporate income.

 

Given the price we paid for the funding from Romanov (he picks the team, 5 or 6 managers a season, performances pretty much pants), I've no problem with him balancing the books, as long as we have a coach who is allowed to do his job.

 

I hope the focus switches on to Csaba now. He's made us hard to beat, and seems to be excellent at man-management. We should make top 6 easily enough, but I suspect 3rd/4th is beyond us. I don't have big problems with that, he's inherited a squad that was pretty dispirited and improved things.

 

After a Summer to build his own squad, I will be looking for much more.

[Guest JamboRobbo]

let's just hope the ?12M debt for equity swap was followed through to the end and not ditched without word. can anyone confirm?

 

31/07/07 accounts, debt circa ?36M.

 

gordon ?8M (?1M to follow)

bednar ?2M

debt/equity ?12M

 

?36M less ?22M = ?14M

 

further operating losses to 31/07/08.... ?

 

i expect the debt should be no worse than ?20M - ?22M

 

we shall see.

 

Assuming you're talking the accounts soon to be publiished (i.e. covering the year up to 31/07/08??), then that was pretty much what I expected at the time. Somewhere between ?20M and ?22M, plus however many millions in "payments for player registrations which are none of our business".

[h-e-a-r-t-s]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

 

Is a 'perspective buyer' a buyer with perspective?

 

In economic times like these only a mad man and a liar would consider it appropriate to work on irrelevant things like balancing the books, reducing debt, and selling club assets.

[Deevers]

Is a 'perspective buyer' a buyer with perspective?

 

In economic times like these only a mad man and a liar would consider it appropriate to work on irrelevant things like balancing the books, reducing debt, and selling club assets.

 

 

Oops should have been "prospective buyer" - that'll teach me to type without my specs on!!

 

 

As far as the balancing the books is concerned - no problem with that - it's making the club safe and viable. Just a wee bit disappointed that a striker wasn't added in this window.

 

Also just wonder what the long term aim actually is.

[Victorian]

Assuming you're talking the accounts soon to be publiished (i.e. covering the year up to 31/07/08??), then that was pretty much what I expected at the time. Somewhere between ?20M and ?22M, plus however many millions in "payments for player registrations which are none of our business".

indeed.

 

we'll know soon enough if and when the debt figure is significantly in excess of our estimates.

 

god help JKB and god help hearts in the face of a media onslaught in THAT event.

[JamboAl]

let's just hope the ?12M debt for equity swap was followed through to the end and not ditched without word. can anyone confirm?

 

31/07/07 accounts, debt circa ?36M.

 

gordon ?8M (?1M to follow)

bednar ?2M

debt/equity ?12M

 

?36M less ?22M = ?14M

 

further operating losses to 31/07/08.... ?

 

i expect the debt should be no worse than ?20M - ?22M

we shall see.

 

That takes us back to the point where Romanov came in.

[kingantti1874]

i actually think romanov is doing a better job now than he has at any other point in his time here....im no fan of the man but getting the club back on a firm footing has to be the priority in the short to medium term...if we had managed to bring in a striker i would have been v pleased with the transfer window, we have needed a clearout for ages and if its followed up in the summer by some others i wont be disappointed...

[Guest JamboRobbo]

i actually think romanov is doing a better job now than he has at any other point in his time here....im no fan of the man but getting the club back on a firm footing has to be the priority in the short to medium term...if we had managed to bring in a striker i would have been v pleased with the transfer window, we have needed a clearout for ages and if its followed up in the summer by some others i wont be disappointed...

 

I'd agree re your views of the current situation.

 

But, if that was going to be the strategy, we should've done it from the beginning, and instead of going from 20M debt to 40M debt then back to 20M debt, we could've just gone straight from 20M to zero.

 

When Vlad came in, the strategy was spend spend spend, speculate to accumulate. There was little point doing that if we weren't going to follow through with it.

 

The result, is that the last two years cost cutting has only got us back where we started. If our strategy was to be developing our own talent, then we'd have been better not chucking the 20M down the drain in the first place IMO.

[Buffalo Bill]

Even when we do cut back spending on wages, there's no reason why we can't just as successful as any time in the past 45 years.

 

With a small squad, made up mostly of hungry young Scots/Brits/Northern Europeans, who are well coached: we will always be a club of significant stature to attract good players.

 

If a young player is approached by Heart of Midlothain (Riccarton et al), I bet their heads are turned. Likewise, if an young player gets a chance to sign for us from a smaller club; or perhaps a less established European nation: he'll be tempted.

 

Let's not think of this re-structuring as a bad thing. I don't want another 06/07, 07/08.

 

 

Buffalo Bill

 

.

[Victorian]

That takes us back to the point where Romanov came in.

yes it would indeed, although we would be in a far better situation than we were before because at the time of the pieman racking up debts to circa ?22M, we were in serious danger of going to the wall due to owing SMG about ?4-5M without means of paying it back and owing the rest to HBOS who could have called in their marker at any time, especially in the face of the present financial climate.

[Fulham Jambo]

whooooaaaaa! careful everyone this is beginning to sound like one of those threads you get over on http://www.ourteamispishandwe'resoboredamatureaccountancyhasbecomeourhobby.net

 

anyway, The Scotland on Sunday actually had a compliment for Vlad on Sunday.

 

It mentioned that despite getting flack for being an asset stripper there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this at all and that the policy that hearts and Vlad have followed since the end of last season in respect of getting some reality into the finances is somthing that david Murray is getting heaps of credit for in the media for only implementing in the last couple of months.

[The Old Tolbooth]

Here's my take on it, I was quick enough to slate Romanov when the chips were down and he was making a complete arse of the manager situation, and the team were a disaster on the park, however I stated that it wouldn't take a lot to change things, and putting a manager in place of team affairs would be a huge step towards that, and getting rid of deadwood players to reduce the wage bill would be another huge step.

 

As far as I can see Romanov has left Csaba in charge of team affairs (fair play for finally learning his lesson on that front, and he now appears to be trying to get rid of some deadwood whilst trying to preserve as much of the family silver as possible.

 

Although I cant help but think there's another mad cap episode around the corner from the man, I have to give credit where it's due for the last 4-5 months and say that he appears to be stepping in the right direction.

 

I don't see why we should panic over a lack of signings coming in this January, because I would rather we picked up players out of contract at the end of the season for nothing, than pay ?2-400k for the Porters of this world for only a handful of games left this season. I agree that we messed up re the signing of Farkas (no excuses there imo) but was he a panic buy? Is he really any good? I'm not convinced that the guy would add much to our squad.

 

What I'm hoping and praying for is that Csaba has a list of targets lined up for the summer (not many, say 4-5) to strengthen certain positions of players who most probably will be leaving (Larry, Driver etc)

 

I honestly think we'll toil to qualify for Europe now with the loss of Berra, but compared to last season we've made some big strides forward, and Rome wasn't built in a day.

[Billy the Jambo]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

 

I hope your last sentence comes true the sooner the better IMO

[Guest JamboRobbo]

whooooaaaaa! careful everyone this is beginning to sound like one of those threads you get over on www.ourteamispishandwe'resoboredamatureaccountancyhasbecomeourhobby.net

 

anyway, The Scotland on Sunday actually had a compliment for Vlad on Sunday.

 

was it not the times?

[JamboAl]

Here's my take on it, I was quick enough to slate Romanov when the chips were down and he was making a complete arse of the manager situation, and the team were a disaster on the park, however I stated that it wouldn't take a lot to change things, and putting a manager in place of team affairs would be a huge step towards that, and getting rid of deadwood players to reduce the wage bill would be another huge step.

 

As far as I can see Romanov has left Csaba in charge of team affairs (fair play for finally learning his lesson on that front, and he now appears to be trying to get rid of some deadwood whilst trying to preserve as much of the family silver as possible.

 

Although I cant help but think there's another mad cap episode around the corner from the man, I have to give credit where it's due for the last 4-5 months and say that he appears to be stepping in the right direction.

 

I don't see why we should panic over a lack of signings coming in this January, because I would rather we picked up players out of contract at the end of the season for nothing, than pay ?2-400k for the Porters of this world for only a handful of games left this season. I agree that we messed up re the signing of Farkas (no excuses there imo) but was he a panic buy? Is he really any good? I'm not convinced that the guy would add much to our squad.

 

What I'm hoping and praying for is that Csaba has a list of targets lined up for the summer (not many, say 4-5) to strengthen certain positions of players who most probably will be leaving (Larry, Driver etc)

 

I honestly think we'll toil to qualify for Europe now with the loss of Berra, but compared to last season we've made some big strides forward, and Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

I would agree with most of that and have similar thoughts to what you say in your 2nd last paragraph. Players like McGowan Templeton Glen Mrowiec Tullberg may get more of a chance now to see what they can do and depending on their level of success, players will be acquired as necessary in the summer. If Mrowiec and Tullberg don't hit it off they will be on their bikes.

Farkas I think was simply delayed until the Berra deal was signed, sealed and delivered (as we did not have the cash) and because that happened late in the window (while we tried to extract the maximum price) there was not enough time to finalise. My only hope is that Csaba knew and appreciated the reasons for any failure.

I may be wrong but I detect a change regarding Lithuanian players coming here. I think now they are coming for training/experience at Riccarton and then return to Lithuania as more rounded players but to get playing time they need to sign short term contracts. If however Csaba likes the look of them, their stay could be extended.

[Miller Jambo 60]

I'd agree re your views of the current situation.

 

But, if that was going to be the strategy, we should've done it from the beginning, and instead of going from 20M debt to 40M debt then back to 20M debt, we could've just gone straight from 20M to zero.

 

When Vlad came in, the strategy was spend spend spend, speculate to accumulate. There was little point doing that if we weren't going to follow through with it.

 

The result, is that the last two years cost cutting has only got us back where we started. If our strategy was to be developing our own talent, then we'd have been better not chucking the 20M down the drain in the first place IMO.

:eek:

Maybe you should run the club JR:eek:

[Guest JamboRobbo]

and delivered (as we did not have the cash) and because that happened late in the window (while we tried to extract the maximum price)

 

Up there with the more ridiculous excuses I've heard.

 

We agreed the fee on Saturday morning. It's not like they actually paid it at 4pm yesterday. We knew the cash was coming in, so we can either do the deal or not.

 

The "we were waiting on Berra money" excuse does not wash.

[Guest JamboRobbo]

:eek:

Maybe you should run the club JR:eek:

 

Only if you'll be my Chief Executive Doug.

[Fulham Jambo]

was it not the times?

 

 

Just testing!

 

well spotted btw - if you read my posts yesterday you will see I have been a bit confused by the various sports sections in the papers on Sunday!

[The Old Tolbooth]

I would agree with most of that and have similar thoughts to what you say in your 2nd last paragraph. Players like McGowan Templeton Glen Mrowiec Tullberg may get more of a chance now to see what they can do and depending on their level of success, players will be acquired as necessary in the summer. If Mrowiec and Tullberg don't hit it off they will be on their bikes.

Farkas I think was simply delayed until the Berra deal was signed, sealed and delivered (as we did not have the cash) and because that happened late in the window (while we tried to extract the maximum price) there was not enough time to finalise. My only hope is that Csaba knew and appreciated the reasons for any failure.

I may be wrong but I detect a change regarding Lithuanian players coming here. I think now they are coming for training/experience at Riccarton and then return to Lithuania as more rounded players but to get playing time they need to sign short term contracts. If however Csaba likes the look of them, their stay could be extended.

 

I'm hoping your right re the Lithuanian side of things mate, not that I have anything against Lithuanians, on the contrary, there's bound to be a good one comes along now and then that we can keep with a bit of luck though and I'd love to see that Stanvicious (sp?) coming to Tynie.

[heartsfc_fan]

How much to we reckon has been shaved off the weekily wage bill with players like Berra, Makela, Basso, Beslija (a wee while ago), Copil etc etc all going?

 

 

I think a good ?20,000 a week! - works out as about ?1 million a year saved!

[Miller Jambo 60]

Only if you'll be my Chief Executive Doug.

 

Cheers JR im having a bad day , but can i be the ball boy.

Less pressure:mw_rolleyes:

[JamboAl]

Up there with the more ridiculous excuses I've heard.

 

We agreed the fee on Saturday morning. It's not like they actually paid it at 4pm yesterday. We knew the cash was coming in, so we can either do the deal or not.

 

The "we were waiting on Berra money" excuse does not wash.

 

That is not an excuse just a possible reason.

I don't know if the fee was agreed or not but it could have been agreed subject to conditions and if I were a selling club chairman, I'd like to think I was getting the money sooner rather than later. The Balogh situation (which took about 3 weeks) suggests that without the Berra money we were in no position to carry through any purchase. Also the player's terms would need to be agreed and we are talking about someone moving to a different country etc.

I don't know when the Berra deal was actually finalised (as opposed to "agreed in principle") but I know you will know as you know everything else. Please tell us - no guesses - just factual knowledge.

[Guest JamboRobbo]

Cheers JR im having a bad day , but can i be the ball boy.

Less pressure:mw_rolleyes:

 

Less pressure? Imagine the stick you'd get if you dropped the ball!!

[Sydney from Sydney]

?2.5 million in and ?200k spent. About eight off the wage bill. It strikes me that Romanov seems to be more interested in tightening up the club accounts just now than pushing for any sort of success on the pitch.

 

The club accounts are due to be published shortly I believe, and the balance sheet should show a remarkable reduction in the debt from the last published accounts. With all the financial restructuring and looking to reduce the wages to turnover percentage, and the apparent drive to reduce the debt, I wonder whether Romanov has had enough and is now looking to find a perspective buyer for us.

 

Spot on mate. He doesn't give a monkeys for us. If he can find a buyer he'll be off like a rocket. And Thank Phuc For That !!!!!

[kingantti1874]

I'd agree re your views of the current situation.

 

But, if that was going to be the strategy, we should've done it from the beginning, and instead of going from 20M debt to 40M debt then back to 20M debt, we could've just gone straight from 20M to zero.

 

When Vlad came in, the strategy was spend spend spend, speculate to accumulate. There was little point doing that if we weren't going to follow through with it.

 

The result, is that the last two years cost cutting has only got us back where we started. If our strategy was to be developing our own talent, then we'd have been better not chucking the 20M down the drain in the first place IMO.

 

 

totally agree with this - i think the original strategy was to bring those funds in through CL and UEFA qualification though....the day burley left killed that strategy in my eyes and the mad one has been forced to adapt his strategy...i for one will be happy seeeing a team of players who want to play for the club such as Iain Black instead of a bunch of mercenaries who are in truth useless such as makela and pinilla...and at least now, 3 years late we appear to be being a bit more sensible across the piece with signings and releasing players, in terms of no or less crazy statements and most importantly in terms of letting a manager get on with the job within acceptable boundaries

[Francis Albert]

That takes us back to the point where Romanov came in.

 

But with a cup win and CL qualification under our belt. Most football club owners do less well, many (perhaps most) running up more debt with NO return on the playing side.

[Coco]

But with a cup win and CL qualification under our belt. Most football club owners do less well, many (perhaps most) running up more debt with NO return on the playing side.

 

Yes VR is still in credit on this score!

[DETTY29]

Agreed.

 

I don't think we tried to sign a defender or a striker.

 

As for the balance sheet, at a rough guesstimate our debt was around the ?40 Million mark (wasn't it?), we sold Craig Gordon, Roman Bednar and Andrius Velicka bringing in around ?11 Million (?2.5 Million for Bednar, ?1 Million for Velicka and we must have about ?8 of the Gordon deal by now) for the club. After the ?12 Million share buy back we should see a club in less than ?20 Million debt. I think that we will see a debt around the early to mid twenties of Millions.

 

 

Probably about right although I expect encouraging debt levels for y/e 31/07/2008 but increasing again for y/e 31/07/2009. Berra transfer and reduced wages not fully compensating for significantly reduced income through turnstiles ans commercial activities.

 

Just a pre warning for this time next year.

[Victor Meldrew]

Up there with the more ridiculous excuses I've heard.

 

We agreed the fee on Saturday morning. It's not like they actually paid it at 4pm yesterday. We knew the cash was coming in, so we can either do the deal or not.

 

The "we were waiting on Berra money" excuse does not wash.

 

What if we'd spent the cash and he'd failed the medical? As I understand it (admittedly from info on here) the medical took place on Sunday / Monday.

 

In fact I know what would have happened, we'd have had people on here saying how ridiculous it is for the club to be spending cash it didn't have.

[bighalders]

It will have taken Heearts around 3 years to from circa ?20M in debt to circa ?20M in debt via ?40M. If we could maintain financial prudence and then be ?0M in debt in another 3 years, then well done Vlad. However I hope we also have even a semi decent team to watch otherwise attendances will dwindle and that will impact on our financial planning

[DETTY29]

What if we'd spent the cash and he'd failed the medical? As I understand it (admittedly from info on here) the medical took place on Sunday / Monday.

 

In fact I know what would have happened, we'd have had people on here saying how ridiculous it is for the club to be spending cash it didn't have.

 

 

Surely football fans can't be that fickle?

[Guest JamboRobbo]

What if we'd spent the cash and he'd failed the medical? As I understand it (admittedly from info on here) the medical took place on Sunday / Monday.

 

We agree the deal in principle, but wait to complete it the moment the Berra deal completes. Not exactly rocket science.

 

In fact I know what would have happened, we'd have had people on here saying how ridiculous it is for the club to be spending cash it didn't have

 

If we'd spent money we didn't have, I'd agree. But as suggested above, there was no need to spend any money before the Berra deal was complete.

[132goals1958]

Here's my take on it, I was quick enough to slate Romanov when the chips were down and he was making a complete arse of the manager situation, and the team were a disaster on the park, however I stated that it wouldn't take a lot to change things, and putting a manager in place of team affairs would be a huge step towards that, and getting rid of deadwood players to reduce the wage bill would be another huge step.

 

As far as I can see Romanov has left Csaba in charge of team affairs (fair play for finally learning his lesson on that front, and he now appears to be trying to get rid of some deadwood whilst trying to preserve as much of the family silver as possible.

 

Although I cant help but think there's another mad cap episode around the corner from the man, I have to give credit where it's due for the last 4-5 months and say that he appears to be stepping in the right direction.

 

I don't see why we should panic over a lack of signings coming in this January, because I would rather we picked up players out of contract at the end of the season for nothing, than pay ?2-400k for the Porters of this world for only a handful of games left this season. I agree that we messed up re the signing of Farkas (no excuses there imo) but was he a panic buy? Is he really any good? I'm not convinced that the guy would add much to our squad.

 

What I'm hoping and praying for is that Csaba has a list of targets lined up for the summer (not many, say 4-5) to strengthen certain positions of players who most probably will be leaving (Larry, Driver etc)

 

I honestly think we'll toil to qualify for Europe now with the loss of Berra, but compared to last season we've made some big strides forward, and Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

 

Whilst I think it will be more difficult now, are our rivals for European qualification any better than us. Forget the Hobos its 2 from us Aberdeen and Dundee United. Would be interested to see the bookmakers take.

[Coco]

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Whilst I think it will be more difficult now, are our rivals for European qualification any better than us. Forget the Hobos its 2 from us Aberdeen and Dundee United. Would be interested to see the bookmakers take.

 

I thought Hamilton's centre backs and midfield were better than our players on Saturday. We were slightly better out wide and there was nothing in it with regard to the strikers. So nothing to suggest we are greatly better than one of the very small teams in the league.

 

I think we have carried a huge amount of luck in the games so far this season, and predict that we will have poorer results in the rest of the season than we have had so far (particularly with Berra gone).

[132goals1958]

I thought Hamilton's centre backs and midfield were better than our players on Saturday. We were slightly better out wide and there was nothing in it with regard to the strikers. So nothing to suggest we are greatly better than one of the very small teams in the league.

 

I think we have carried a huge amount of luck in the games so far this season, and predict that we will have poorer results in the rest of the season than we have had so far (particularly with Berra gone).

 

I take your point, but Hamilton have also beaten the sheep and United, whilst also running both of the Old Firm close on their own patch.

[heartsfc_fan]

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Whilst I think it will be more difficult now, are our rivals for European qualification any better than us. Forget the Hobos its 2 from us Aberdeen and Dundee United. Would be interested to see the bookmakers take.

 

Dundee Utd have lost Flood - their best player, and not replaced him.