Hearts and Partick consult lawyers over ‘misleading’ Neil Doncaster letter

Clubs believe SPFL chief should be impartial in court case

04/08/19 LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP KILMARNOCK v RANGERS RUGBY PARK - KILMARNOCK SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster in the stands

The pair raised the possibility in hitting out at the governing body for a letter sent to the 42 member clubs concerning the petition lodged in the Court of Session by the two clubs against their demotions from the Premiership and Championship, respectively.

The Tynecastle club and the Maryhill side released a joint statement yesterday in which they claimed the communique, relating to the action scheduled to be heard on Wednesday morning, is “wrong” “with “much of its content… misleading” and “the timing itself questionable”.

The two clubs state they are “currently awaiting legal advice on what needs to happen next” over the letter sent following their petition to the Court of Session that argued against the legitimacy of their relegations. In their papers, they demand that promotion and relegation be suspended – which resulted in a “robust” response from Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers, who would not go up despite being named winners of the Championship, League One and League Two title respectively – or £10 million in compensation be awarded to them – £8m for Hearts – over the April vote to curtail the season following the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown the previous month.

It is understood the two clubs are unhappy that the letter sent to the 42 clubs in recent days was signed by SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster. Lawyers for Hearts and Thistle believe that he should have remained impartial in the litigation, and should have made no comment between the petition being lodged and heard.

No details of the petition are discussed in the letter, which is in response to clubs asking the SPFL for the answers that lodged in response to the Hearts and Thistle