One-member, one-vote at core of Hearts takeover bid

THE Foundation of Hearts campaign group will announce further details next week of how they believe the Tynecastle club should be run under fan ownership, with the one-member-one-vote principle being a central part of their plans.

Since launching their bid to take over Hearts and urging supporters to pledge a monthly sum to be given if their takeover was successful, the Foundation’s leading members have faced the accusation that they want the fans to finance their own ambitions. Next week’s statement is expected to make it plain that everyone who joins the Foundation will have the same say in running the club, no matter how much money they put in or how long ago they became a member.

In recent months, the Foundation have had a series of discussions with other Hearts supporters’ groups and representatives of current owner Vladimir Romanov. Future discussions are still planned, but it is understood they are becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of accurate and up-to-date information coming from the club. They now hope that this week’s statement by Romanov that he is willing to sell up and is not concerned by the price will encourage Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas to become more cooperative.

Although Romanov talked about negotiations to sell “51 per cent of the club to the supporters”, the Foundation and other interested groups have understood for some time that they are negotiating about buying all of the majority stake held by Ubig, the football club’s parent company in which Romanov has a controlling interest. They believe that any continued involvement by the present board after a partial sale would be counter-productive, and will therefore seek a deal in which there is a clean break between the present owners and a new, supporter-led company.

In their statement, expected to be published on Tuesday, the Foundation will urge all Hearts fans to join the Foundation and pledge what they can to help run the club if and when it is bought by the group. They will also outline their plans for Hearts to be run by a nine-member board comprising an independent chair, four directly elected fans’ representatives, and four other directors with a range of business skills.

They will suggest that all directors be appointed for an initial three-year period, with no presumption that the business directors will be selected from those currently most active in the Foundation. Under this plan, no directors will be paid, and all will have to stand for re-election at the end of the first three-year period. All Hearts fans who have made a pledge to the Foundation will have a vote at that election.

The board will, in turn, appoint a chief executive and a football manager, to run their respective sides of Hearts. Both professionals will be responsible to the board, but on a daily basis would be expected to run their departments free from the interventions that have characterised Romanov’s time in charge.

Foundation chairman Alex Mackie was last night meeting representatives of the Jambos Kickback chatroom to answer contributors’ questions about his group’s plans, and it is understood he outlined some of the ideas which will be formally published next week.