Ann Budge calls on Rangers to reveal evidence of SPFL wrong-doing

Hearts owner says clubs are annoyed and ‘almost insulted’ by league’s actions

Hearts owner Ann Budge. Picture: SNS

Dismissing the SPFL’s failed attempt to quell the masses with a surreptitiously-arranged independent investigation, Hearts owner Ann Budge says the governing body will have to broaden its horizons if it hopes to bring Scottish football together.

Backing Rangers’ member’s requisition, calling for a General Meeting of all 42 member clubs to consider the need for a more comprehensive external enquiry into matters surrounding and including the recent vote to end the 2019-20 league season, the Tynecastle chairwoman was disdainful of the Deloitte investigation, criticising the narrow scope of their remit.

“I heard someone saying that a number of clubs are actually feeling annoyed about it and they feel it is almost an insult and I can understand exactly where those clubs are coming from. I don’t think it has helped at all. I think it was ill-judged and another thing that hasn’t been handled in the best manner.”

And while the SPFL made it clear that it hoped the matter would now be closed, Budge said only more far-reaching scrutiny would help to heal current divisions in the game, rebuild trust and allow everyone to switch attentions to a plan for surviving and thriving beyond the coronavirus shutdown.

But she has also warned the Ibrox club that they will have to be more open when it comes to revealing details of their alleged evidence of wrong-doing, which prompted their initial calls for an investigation and the suspension of SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and legal adviser Rod McKenzie.

“I haven’t seen any of the evidence they say they have from the whistleblower but I would think they will have to put it out there fairly soon. If this is going to go to a vote, the clubs who are voting will want to know what that evidence is so I anticipate or assume we will all be getting sight of something fairly soon.

“From my perspective, an investigation still has to happen to allow us to draw a line under it. We need to identify where the issues were, if there were any, and try to make sure we don’t let it happen again. So, I am still supporting the calls for an independent review and I don’t understand why they have done what they have done. I can’t understand why they think that would satisfy anyone and why they think it would be sufficient. The investigation was so narrow and the focus on the Dundee thing was only one element of it all.

“It will be tough to get 32 votes [the number necessary to enforce an independent investigation] but I would like to think we can do that so that we can draw a line under it. I feel it has already been an issue for too long and there are plenty of other things to be thinking about, but we need to move on in a way that addresses the issues. For that reason, I hope it goes through.”

Juggling several plates, Budge is also working on league reconstruction plans, while also playing hardball with the Hearts players. Having issued a statement on Friday reminding them that they will have to officially agree to the wage cuts, imposed across the club, or face suspension and no wages this month, she admits that some players are still holding out.

Some of those are examining their legal options but others have been in touch via representatives to formalise paperwork.

“This isn’t a matter for individual conversations and negotiations. I have said for weeks that this is what we need to do and I spoke to them all and made it clear and it is not as though they haven’t had a chance to discuss it.

“A few agents have come back to me to talk about different things in their contracts and I am perfectly happy to talk about those.

“But in terms of what we are paying them, it is clearcut: ‘We have made you an offer and if you can accept it, that’s wonderful, if you can’t then you will be suspended and won’t get paid’. I can’t make one rule for some and not for others. That wouldn’t be fair.

“It is not a decision I wanted to make but this is the situation we are in so here we are.

“I have tried to explain to them about the difference in our model and the way that we pay them and I think that did resonate with a few of them who were quite happy when they were getting the same pay whether they were playing or not. It stood them in pretty good stead for the past couple of years and would have been fine this year had it not been for coronavirus.

“They have had the benefit for as long as they have been here of not having to worry about being injured or not being selected and some of them have had quite a lot of that benefit, so I don’t feel bad saying I can’t defer wages.

“I don’t think any of us genuinely believe we are going to be playing football, especially in front of normal crowds, any time this year 
so deferring wages is simply pushing the problem further down the line.

“I think it would put too much pressure on the club because this isn’t all going to be over in a few months’ time. Even if we start playing at the end of this year or the beginning of next, it will take a long time for us all to get back on an even keel again and I think the deferral of wages is a burden we shouldn’t have to carry.”