The long drawn out saga at Hearts may be entering its final phase with the possibility being raised that the club might play its last game against St. Mirren on Saturday 17 November. In a letter to fans, the club has said ‘This isn’t a bluff, this isn’t scaremongering, this is reality.’
For the third time in a year the club faces liquidation over unpaid taxes. Revenue & Customs presented a winding-down petition to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Monday over just under £450,000 in unpaid PAYE and National Insurance.
The long drawn out saga at Hearts may be entering its final phase with the possibility being raised that the club might play its last game against St. Mirren on Saturday 17 November. In a letter to fans, the club has said ‘This isn’t a bluff, this isn’t scaremongering, this is reality.’
For the third time in a year the club faces liquidation over unpaid taxes. Revenue & Customs presented a winding-down petition to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Monday over just under £450,000 in unpaid PAYE and National Insurance.
What is more the club faces a further tax bill of £1.75m which it is challenging at a tribunal. The days when Revenue & Customs would be forgiving towards indebted football clubs are long over.
Supporters have been asked to take part in a new share scheme and buy tickets for home games, but it is far from clear that this will be sufficient. The club have faced growing problems meeting wage bills in the past 12 months and are under a Scottish Premier League transfer embargo because of consecutive late payments.
Tom Harris, secretary of the Bonnyrigg Hearts Supporters’ Club told the Herald that the club had been run disgracefully. He said: ‘I fear the worst now and I am completely gutted. It might not be the worst thing to go back to the start, with no debt and no foreign owner,’ he said.
‘I have supported the club all my life and all you ever hear about them in the media, apart from the Scottish Cup victory, is about mismanagement, managers being sacked, contract issues and HMRC. The way the club has been run in the last five or 10 years is nothing short of disgraceful.’
Mr Harris added: ‘They have had such great times over the years, but I have recently had the heart kicked out of me following them. I can’t believe they are coming to the fans asking them to bail them out when it is mismanagement that has got us there in the first place.’
So serious is the threat to one of the two senior clubs in the Scottish capital that the Scottish Government has said that it may step in. A Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government stands ready to assist i n any way it can, including making contact with HMRC if necessary. It is in everyone’s interests to find a solution which ensures Hearts can continue in business while also meeting their obligations to the tax authorities.’
Possibly, one might add, those of the Scottish Government whose independence referendum campaign has not got off to a sparkling start.