How Hearts’ wage ‘glitch’ has become a sorry trend

MOVE along, move along, nothing to see here. If the Hearts players receive their wages today, as the club have now suggested, then the likelihood is there won’t be.

Not for now. Not if recent history is anything to go by. The players’ union will be told to stand down, the evidence being accumulated by certain players will be filed away and life will get back to normal.

But normal life for players at the Capital club means their monthly salaries habitually coming into accounts a day or two late, with the spectre of an even lengthier delay always looming. No longer able to pass it off as a technical problem or minor glitch the way they were once used to, the fact is that the majority shareholder and the board are no longer even offering explanations.

It was Andy Warhol who said: “They always say time changes things but you actually have to change them yourself.” Thus far, matters at Tynecastle have proved that but, with a single-minded owner at the helm, the players know how tough it could be to tackle the ongoing uncertainty and unfairness without retribution. However, minus some kind of action it’s likely to be a case of déjà vu in the coming months. Frustrated by the public perception that they have the kind of money talked about in reference to EPL players and can somehow soak up the lack of a wage, or even worse should be playing simply for the honour, they are disappointed that the club can no longer offer reasons for the delays in an attempt to placate the players and their families – and bank managers.

That wasn’t the case in the early days. “I can tell you there is no wages problem. There was a temporary delay due to a technical reason. There is no problem,” said direcctor Sergejus Fedotovas. “I am confident there is no salary issue here. There was a technical problem, we will eliminate that and everyone will be paid.” That was more than three years ago, back in 2008. It was the first public inkling that the method is which wages were paid to the football and non-playing staff was less than reliable.

Back then the problem was attributed to a hitch in transferring funds from Lithuania to the Scottish account from which wages were paid. The board have always insisted that the issue has never a lack of finance. Whatever the root cause, players insist the big issue is repetition. Football staff claim that, over the course of their Hearts careers, as much as 50 per cent of their monthly salaries have missed the scheduled payment date. It is not a new problem and, while they have tried to accommodate the unpredictability, the frustration is growing.

In September 2008 it took a week for the wages to hit the designated bank accounts. Then the issue affected playing and non-playing staff and while the union and the staff ultimately accepted the assurances that it was down to a technical hitch, it was not a one-off. Vladimir Romanov’s Ukio Bankas Investment Group promised to hold an internal inquiry but the tardiness in payments remains a concern. Three months later it again became a matter of public consumption, with leading first-team players being asked to agree to deferred payments. Then it was put down to human error and the complications with money being paid on a weekly basis from Lithuania. In the wake of that mix up and in a bid to minimise the problem, the players agreed to switch to monthly salaries. But not before they had been hit with a £15 administration fee, applied by Romanov’s bank. They were told they would be reimbursed the payment if they produced a copy of their statements.

Throughout 2009 there was a row over outstanding bonus payments but the club insisted at that time that basic salaries were being honoured. In late 2010, though, PFA Scotland were again contacted after the monthly wages were five days late in arriving in players’ bank accounts. It emerged it had been an perpetual gripe throughout that year, with reasons either flimsy or non-existent.

But a Hearts spokesman stated: “There is no issue with wage payments at Hearts as all players have been paid this month.” The club were made aware that the players’ union was now monitoring the situation.

They didn’t have too long to wait for further involvement. In July this year Hearts admitted that they were withholding the bonus payments, promised for finishing third in the SPL, until they learned if an appeal against a £100,000 SFA disciplinary fine was to be upheld. But, while playing hardball with the bonuses, Fedotovas said he was surprised to learn that the players hadn’t received their basic wages on the agreed date. Ditching the “technical hitches” card he had played in the past, he said the players should have been paid in time. Insisting that the funds had been cleared in Lithuania, he said they were working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. We don’t have any problem and I haven’t heard of anything that should prevent this from being paid.” The wages arrived five days late. The latest wage is at least a week late, with no satisfactory apology or explanation proffered. “We have spoken with the players and made them aware of the situation. We are grateful for their patience and they know they will be paid in the near future,” read the club statement issued on Friday. But the fact is that patience is wearing thin.

The first-team squad had hoped that by making the latest concern public they wouldn’t have to go down the road of forcing action. It didn’t have the desired affect this time. According to players, the latest suggestion is that they should get their money today. The only certainty is that they are not holding their breath.