George Foulkes Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Six years ago at the AGM of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, the Board needed a police escort. The Chief Executive of the Club, Chris Robinson, claimed that he was attacked outside his home. The Board had planned to sell Tynecastle to be developed for housing and thousands of supporters joined Save Our Hearts to keep our club at its historic home. On 21 May, I attended the latest AGM along with former Vice-Chairman, Pilmar Smith, and Ian Mercer, son of former Chairman, Wallace Mercer. The contrast between this meeting and those of six and seven years ago was dramatic. It was one of the calmest and cordial meetings I have attended recently. When appropriate and necessary, I have not hesitated to criticise our owner, Vladimir Romanov, or his colleagues who sit on the Board. Equally, when they have deserved support or even praise, I have not hesitated in giving it to them. Some have criticised me for inconsistency, but no one is either right or wrong all the time and our comments should be based on what is actually being done, not on any preconception we may have of the person taking the action. The AGM this year was not constructed in the farcical and aggressive way Roman Romanov presided over the meeting two years ago. Sergius Fedotovas was a model of fairness this year and even encouraged more questions from the floor. And he answered all those questions frankly, in detail and with good humour. He previewed our first new signing of the closed season which now appears to be fulfilled with the proposed signing of Kevin Kyle, as I write this note. His colleague, Vitalijus Vasiliauskas, was also frank about the dilemma facing the Board in deciding on the appropriate development of the main ground and finding the funds for it. It was also clear in the formal session, and informal discussions after the meeting, that the Board Members have faith in Jim Jefferies and his management team, and rightly so. As promised, Jim has cleared out the players who were taking home the biggest wage packets but not delivering on the field. That then has made it possible for him to sign some urgently needed key players and still have a substantial net saving. In reply to another question from the floor, Sergius rightly replied that we need to balance our books within two years, not just to become a financially viable enterprise but also to satisfy UEFA?s new requirement for qualifying for European competitions. Since most if not all of the proceedings were not just uncontroversial but positive, little of it appeared in the media, apart from Stuart Bathgate?s intelligent reporting in The Scotsman. Over the past couple of years, there have been recurring doubts about Vladimir Romanov?s commitment to the Club. The evidence of this year?s AGM is that, although he is not as omnipresent as he was at the start, he still makes all the decisions and he still seems committed to make his investment and commitment to the Club a success. It may be that others could and should join him in investing in the Club but there is no evidence he is planning to walk away from Hearts. So, I am doubly pleased that I renewed my season ticket early. Incidentally, it is now also great that all that needs to be done in renewing for the same seats is to reactivate the plastic card for the new season. At the AGM, the only contribution I felt I needed to make was a heartfelt thanks to Campbell Ogilvie for all he has done for us. His diplomacy and calming presence over the past four and a half years has been invaluable and now he moves to take over as President of the SFA, he will be a powerful ally and will bring unparalleled experience at two major clubs to his new position. It is a measure of his great commitment to Scottish football that he will be substantially less well off financially as a result of his move. Finally, I must confess that I am already missing my weekly fix of football and looking forward to the start of next season with a clean slate under our new management. Meanwhile, we have the World Cup to provide some alternative football fare and, in the absence of Scotland, I am searching my soul as to whether to follow one of my son?s support for New Zealand, the other for France, or join Alex Salmond in supporting England. No choice. Au revoir! George Foulkes 7 June 2010 Copyright hmfckickback.co.uk and the author, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.