Trouble at Hearts as tax bill goes unpaid

A petition for a "wind-up" action was lodged against the Tynecastle club on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) at the Court of Session this week.

The action could ultimately lead to Hearts being forced to sell assets or even to cease trading altogether should the outstanding bills not be paid in time.

The club would face a ten-point deduction from the Scottish Premier League if it was to go into administration, a penalty previously handed out to Gretna FC.

A spokesman for the Court of Session confirmed that the petition had been lodged, but said no action had been taken since and no court dates had been set.

A spokesman for HMRC added: "A warrant has been served to the Court of Session on Hearts Football Club."

However, officials would not comment on the amount of money at stake, saying the action was being taken as a "last resort".

In the past the club has avoided similar action by settling bills before reaching court.

The Evening News understands that a number of legal actions were launched against the club to recover debts last year, but were all settled.

Lothians MSP George Foulkes, a former Hearts chairman, said the latest development would "send shivers down the spine" of Hearts fans and would further divide opinion over controversial owner Vladimir Romanov.

He said: "I think Mr Romanov and his colleagues have taken things to the wire before as far as paying bills are concerned. So far the club has survived, but it's certainly not good for the nerves. Everybody just crosses their fingers and hopes it goes away.

"Most fans have always had mixed feelings about Romanov, but he has given (manager] Csaba Laszlo a relatively free hand to choose players and pick the team. We came third in the league and we're in the Europa League. If Chris Robinson was still there, we'd probably be in the First Division and playing in front of 5,000 people at Murrayfield."

The news comes just months after Hearts said it had managed to reduce its overall debt by 16 per cent from 36.25 million to 30.48m.

On releasing its annual accounts for the year to July 2008 earlier this year, the club said it had been helped by the high-profile transfers of players, including Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon and Czech striker Roman Bednar.

Hearts blamed an administrative glitch for problems paying players' wages last season and have also faced having its water cut off after reportedly running up thousands of pounds in unpaid bills.

A spokesman for the club said: "We are meeting the agreed payment schedule with HMRC. Perhaps HMRC does not trust football clubs as most of them have outstanding payments to the tax authorities these days and they have taken a precaution to place a petition in case we do not perform. The payment will be on time as agreed."

Chairman of the Hearts Supporters Trust, Derek Watson said: "For many years Hearts under different regimes have always paid bills at the last minute and I think most people know that, so it would have to go a bit further before people got worried – they're used to it by now."