Hearts: Kyle has sympathy for Tynecastle staff

Kevin Kyle: 'Warning signs'. Picture: SNS

The developing crisis at Hearts means he is about to be joined in that job market by some of his former Tynecastle team-mates. But, regardless of the playing staff casualties from the administration process at Hearts, Kyle believes the real victims of Vladimir Romanov’s calamitous tenure are those made redundant behind the scenes.

“The players can go and get other clubs, because they are a good standard of player at Hearts,” said Kyle. “But the people working in the ticket office or other parts of the club, where are they going to get a job  tomorrow? They are the ones you have to feel sorry for. It is brutal.

“When I left Hearts last year, I went for about four months without wages. I know what it’s like. I finished with Rangers in April this year and it might take me until August to get a new club. But what must the people who get made redundant at Hearts be thinking? I’ve got a friend who is getting £70 a week, or whatever it is, on Jobseekers Allowance from the Job  Centre. There are just no jobs. How are they going to support their families?”

As dismayed as he is by the Hearts crisis, it has hardly come as a surprise to Kyle, who scored ten goals in 22 appearances for the club during his injury-hampered spell there.

“Looking back now, the warning signs were there,” added Kyle. “You sign a contract and expect to get paid on time. But the wages were almost always late. In the two years I was there, you could count on one hand the amount of times we were paid on time. You didn’t mind it being ten days late or whatever, but there was time when our September wages were not paid until just after Christmas. That was horrendous, because not everyone is clued up with money and not everyone was on that great a deal.

“You would go and speak to the manager, who would then go and speak to someone else but you would never get any answers. You would phone the poor wee girl in the accounts office and say, ‘Fiona, what’s happening with the wages this month?’ and she would just say they didn’t know. That would indicate the money just wasn’t there. Mr Romanov is on the run now and it has all come to a head. It is a sad state of affairs. The SFA should definitely take a closer look at the people running clubs. I don’t know how they operate their fit and proper person test, but I’d love to sit in on one of them. Even I could pass one of them!

“I don’t know what procedures were in place when Mr Romanov took over the club a few years ago but they have to make sure the next owner passes a proper test. There is a search warrant out for someone who was supposedly worth what, £200 million? Was the money ever there in the first place? It’s mind-boggling. It’s killing the game. It happened to Rangers with the Craig Whyte fiasco and it’s now happened to Hearts. We are going to end up ruining our game. The signs are there and it’s just not on.

“For two clubs like Rangers and Hearts to find themselves in the situations they have done is absolutely astounding. You’d never have thought it would happen, but it has. The SPL and SFA set a precedent with the way they treated Rangers – is the same going to happen with Hearts? Are we going to end up with them in the Third Division? We’ve already got both Rangers and Dunfermline in the Second Division – Scottish football is turning into a shambles.”

Kyle was speaking at the launch of a new book, Rangers FC – We Don’t Do Walking Away, which chronicles the Ibrox club’s first season in the aftermath of their financial collapse as they won the Third Division title. “It was a culture shock,” said the 32-year-old, who made 11 appearances for Ally McCoist’s side before injury saw him released in March.

“I remember talking to Neil Alexander before the season started and saying it would be great if we could go through it undefeated and keep clean sheets in every game. He agreed that was what he was hoping for. It was so different, though. That first game up at Peterhead, with the trek up there and the pitch, when you were taking a throw-in there were guys at the side of the park giving you high-fives or slapping you on the bum! It was so surreal. It was an insight into how the lower leagues work. When Rangers do get back to the top flight, they will be all the better for it. They will appreciate it more.”

Kyle now hopes his catalogue of injury problems will not discourage another club from giving him a chance this summer. “I’m ready to do a full pre-season for the first time in five years,” he said. “I believe I still have a lot to offer. I know managers will look at me and think, ‘He’s always injured – no thanks’, but I’ve not been continuously injured, it’s just the treatment I received wasn’t always right.”

• Rangers FC – We Don’t Do Walking Away, by Lisa Gray, Black and White Publishing, £7.99.