Alan Pattullo: Hearts go into reverse as Ann Budge revolution stalls

This isn’t how it was meant to be, of course. But then not everything has worked out the way it was supposed to since those impressive early days of the Ann Budge revolution at Hearts.

Hearts owner Ann Budge has felt it necessary to announce salary cuts after football was suspended due to the coronavirus crisis. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Spring, a time of hope and renewal, had been pinpointed as a fitting time to complete the transfer of the owner’s shares to the Foundation of Hearts. In an ideal world, there would have been a press conference, perhaps some champagne.

The protagonists – Budge and FoH chairman Stuart Wallace – might have been cheered on to the pitch at Tynecastle before a game. There might have been some ticker tape. Budge would be smiling for the cameras as she passed an oversized novelty cardboard share to Wallace in a symbolic gesture. “There’s only one Ann Budge,” may have rung out. But the fans would have deserved to give themselves a round of applause as well.

The story would have earned headlines everywhere, deservedly so, since it marked the completion of seven years’ work. The message had been delivered. This is what can eventually happen with the cooperation and, above all, the goodwill and generosity of supporters: the creation of the largest majority fan-owned club in the land.

So why does it now feel as if Hearts have returned to square one? The transfer of shares is still due to happen eventually, just not likely anytime soon. If you were the FoH, would you want to take over a football club in these circumstances? If you were Budge, and conscious of leaving a legacy, would you wish to let go in these worrying times? Of course, she was not going to let go completely.

An agreement meant Budge was going to stay on to run the club, since supporters are hardly qualified to do that. “I genuinely believe it (supporters running the club) would be a disaster and undermine everything we’ve done,” she said last month. The trouble is it’s looking increasingly as if Budge and her directors are also unfit for the task.

Whether she can survive for much longer remains to be seen. There’s anger among the playing squad, and now more anger in the stands – or there would be were Hearts playing any games. How has it come to this? How have millions of pounds of supporters’ money along with similar sums from mystery benefactors been frittered away on a team that is sitting bottom of the league?

There’s a new main stand of course, but one expected to be at least £10m over budget when the inside is finally completed. The playing squad, while large in number, looks more than reasonable on paper in terms of quality. However, at an estimated cost of around £7m you would hope for that to be the case. If Hearts are relegated, they would become the most expensively assembled side ever to take the drop from the top flight. By contrast, the side that went down in 2014 following a points deduction for entering administration cost £800,000.

The fact Hearts are not currently playing games – a fate shared by everyone else of course – is one reason why Budge has felt it necessary to take the extreme action she has.

But yesterday’s announcement from Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor that the club intend to honour contracts throughout this uncertain time has brought Budge’s actions into sharper focus.

“The reduction in income is not sustainable without taking immediate action to cut costs and overheads,” she wrote in a statement that shocked Scottish football on Wednesday. She went on to reveal she had asked all full-time employees, including manager Daniel Stendel – recruited just over three months ago on a reputedly handsome deal – and office staff, to accept a 50 per cent cut in their monthly salary, starting next month. Those unwilling to accept have been offered the option of contract termination. In such times, who can consider this? Some well paid players, perhaps, but few others.

As more than one person has pointed out, it looks distastefully opportunistic. East Fife player Danny Denholm, a boyhood Hearts fan, tweeted that he really hoped the “club I support aren’t using the crisis as an excuse to short change”.

The mask slipped slightly on Monday when Budge, while discussing the effect of a prolonged shutdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus, lamented the loss – for the time being – of £500,000 due to the postponement of the Scottish Cup semi-final with Hibs.

“That’s money we thought we would have and won’t have,” she said. But it’s a potential windfall that was only secured a few weeks ago via a surprise fifth-round win over Rangers. It was surely not budgeted for. Indeed, where would Hearts be without the £100,000 per month still coming in from supporter pledges?

Of course, who could have foreseen a pandemic forcing the club to close its doors? Budge spelled it out in her statement. Supporters’ bar? Closed. Museum? Closed. Community department? Closed. Yesterday it was confirmed that the club store and ticket office will be closed until further notice after the end of play today.

Still, it does seem extreme for Hearts to have got to the point of swingeing salary cuts across the board within five days of football shutting down.

As one worried fan told me yesterday: “We were clearly already operating on the edge”. It certainly appears less a Covid-19 inflicted crisis and more one created by risky financial brinkmanship.