Delays and debt fuel fears over stadium

Published on Sunday 13 April 2008 21:48

SENIOR figures on City of Edinburgh Council are casting doubt on Hearts' ability to press ahead with redevelopment of its stadium, The Scotsman has learned.

Councillors and officials are said to be "increasingly concerned" about the club's ability to deliver its side of a complex deal needed before a new-look Tynecastle can be given the go-ahead.

Insiders say a series of delays over the submission of a planning application for a new 10,000-seater main stand and other commercial facilities – coupled with fresh revelations about the club's mounting debts – have left huge question marks over its feasibility.

Senior councillors are understood to have been left "furious" after the club suddenly delayed its proposed start date because of the knock-on effect on a children's nursery.

Plans for a 50 million development which would boost the stadium's capacity to 23,000 and make Tynecastle Scotland's fourth biggest football stadium were unveiled in August last year – seven months after councillors agreed to sell off three sites needed to allow the club to expand.

The council has to temporarily relocate the nursery, one of the three sites, to the other side of the stadium to allow Hearts to start work .

But it also needs Hearts to pay about 2 million to remove – for health and safety reasons – whisky stored in bonds at a neighbouring distillery before the entire scheme can proceed.

Hearts had told the council and its fans of its intention to start work on the stadium in the autumn and for the new ground to be completed by the start of the 2010-11 season.

However, the club failed to lodge its planning application until January – a year later than originally envisaged.

And in March the club told supporters it would not now be pressing ahead with the redevelopment until summer 2009 at the earliest – delaying the entire timetable by another year. Within days it emerged that the club's debt had reached 36.2 million.

It is understood the council believes it was "kept in the dark" about the delay and senior figures within the authority are believed to be unhappy at the club's handling of negotiations.

One senior councillor, who asked not to be named, said: "We have a number of concerns about the proposed redevelopment of Tynecastle, not least the way the club keeps putting back the timetable for the work."

A spokesman for Hearts said: "The club is on track."