Hearts players finally get part of overdue wages
Ukio Bankas
HEARTS players have received a portion of their overdue wages after Ukio Bankas Investment Group, the club’s parent company, processed a payment of around £1000 for each player. UBIG officials are now attempting to source the remaining funds to complete salary payments which were originally due on November 16.
Payments have been deposited into players’ bank accounts although UBIG do not consider it as any kind of Christmas bonus. The remainder of November’s wages is still outstanding and the Tynecastle squad have not been given an indication of when the money will arrive.
Today marks the 19th day since salaries were due, equalling the amount of time Hearts players waited when October’s payments were delayed. On that occasion, manager Paulo Sergio had to intervene to prevent senior players lodging an official complaint with the Scottish Premier League.
Money at UBIG is not readily available at present but Hearts officials believe this gesture is an indication that Vladimir Romanov, the club’s majority shareholder, is intent on paying wages in full as soon as possible.
Sergio believes missing salaries were partly responsible for Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by St Johnstone. “We are losing focus on our work, that is revealed in games,” he said. “We are thinking during the week about other kinds of problems that everybody knows and we are losing our focus, our quality and our confidence. We are creating chances, that is good and we should put them in the net. We are creating and playing but, at the same time, we are doing stupid things. We are giving chances to our opponents without them doing too much to deserve it.”
The manager criticised Hearts’ defending, admitting his team “lost the game in a very stupid way”. Adding to the manager’s disgruntlement is a calf problem which forced centre-back Andy Webster off at half-time. He now faces a race to be fit for this weekend’s visit to Celtic Park.
Liam Craig’s lob and Dave Mackay’s penalty secured victory for St Johnstone, although Jamie Hamill missed a penalty for Hearts before Mehdi Taouil’s late consolation.
“I’m especially upset because we were very weak in our defensive line, we did not have calmness and confidence to play,” Sergio told the Hearts website.
“In fact, St Johnstone were only in our box two or three times in the whole game. They were in our box twice in the second half.
“We had a lot of chances to score, we didn’t score and we lost the game in a very stupid way. What upset me was the lack of quality and aggression in our defensive line. They put the ball in front and we didn’t attack the ball.”
Email to a friend
Print this page- Family mourn death of Glasgow ‘fight’ schoolboy
- Rangers takeover: Duff & Phelps threaten legal action against BBC
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Rangers administration: Fans fear Duff & Phelps claims could scare off Green
- Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
- Alistair Darling leads ‘No to independence’ fight over tea and biscuits
- Scottish independence: SNP flip-flops over Nato
- Scottish Independence: SNP ‘won’t be Yes campaign’s only voice’
- Scottish independence: Alex Salmond’s pledge to sign up 1m voters
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 43 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
Robbo27Hammerof the hibs
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 07:03 PMmoderated because forgot to add stars it said life could always be worse could be a sh*t*bee
Robbo27Hammerof the hibs
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 07:01 PMComment removed by moderator
number withheld
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 02:08 PMtommy tommy - its a disgrace the players havent been paid. hearts have cash flow problems. the end. have you phoned the gp yet?
tommy-tommy
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 12:29 PMComment removed by moderator
number withheld
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 12:02 PMtommy tommy - have you phoned your GP yet? you need to.
tommy-tommy
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 11:07 AMComment removed by moderator
tommy-tommy
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 08:56 AMComment removed by moderator
tommy-tommy
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 06:47 AMComment removed by moderator
bring them on
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 04:47 AMRoll up, roll up get your shorts and partial wages......
RolIand
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 10:06 PMWonder if the bankers at Ukio will get a christmas bonus this year? Now as for all the frothing at the crotch hobos, clam down dears' your team is point off bottom spot and are in real danger of having the best infrastructure in tuhe 1st Division next season. One would think you would have more than enough to worry about than the big teams wages being paid or not. Who is to say the rest won't come with this months salary ? All debts settled for Christmas by santa Vlad.
themanwith2brains
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 09:23 PMno hearts player recieved 1k because unless they pay zero tax ni they would only at best get half that. tha equates to £175 a week and as most will live a privately owned house will be lucky to pay their morgage, personally i would sue for breach of contract and force the mad ones hand. this cant go on before an old established club goes under, and that would be sad to see even for a hibby like me
The Special One
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 08:46 PM#27 Tremendous repartee and riposte. For an amoeba. #28 As opposed to you, the king of burying your head in the sand. Feeble response from Jambos - as weak as your finances. #30 Agreed. Managers & players openly bullied maltreated by Vlad. #31 Agreed. Non payment will become the norm. Vlad believes ethics is a county in south east England.
rainbowrising
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 08:11 PMthis issue is now about 10 days away from lumbering to the next salary being due and (I presume) not being paid.
Taigh na Croiche
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 07:29 PMHearts in their present form could be coming to an end. Any Jambo who supported Vlad after Burley got the sack should share the blame. Vlad has always been a bully. A Jambo? No. A rich bully? Aye.
kop1875
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 07:02 PM28#TOT, is it not most Hearts fans that do this with there love towards Mad Vlad. GGTTH
Page 1 of 3
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.