Hearts on track for supporter ownership

HEARTS fans are on track to have ownership of the Tynecastle club after it emerged that£1m has been invested by supporters.

Hearts owner Ann Budge. Picture: SNS

Foundation of Hearts chairman (FoH) Ian Murray MP has confirmed the investment and that the group is on track to buy out current owner Ann Budge in five year’s time.

The IT entrepreneur rescued the club from administration with a £2.5 million package.

FoH will take over the club providing they can fulfil the terms of their agreement with Ms Budge which stipulated they make an immediate injection of £1 million followed by yearly contributions.

The final step is to repay the £2.5 million Ms Budge forked out to save the club from extinction.

Murray, the member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, has confirmed that the first payment has been made, and has urged more fans to pledge to FoH to keep their £6.3 million plan on track.

Over 8000 supporters have already pledged to the membership scheme.

Murray said: “While we are all enjoying our football again we must not lose sight of the future and we must not forget where we have come from in the last 15 months.

“The job of saving Hearts from extinction is complete but the hard work on ensuring the existence of the club is not compromised again has only just commenced.

“A very large part of that work is for the Foundation of Hearts to raise £6.3m over 5 years.

“The Foundation has a steady 8,000 members and we continue to have a direct debit payment rate of over 99% every month.

“However, every pound is important and I hope Hearts supporters who have not already done so will consider joining the largest supporter movement in Scottish Footballing history.”