Senior Hearts players asked to consider wages cut

Jamie MacDonald: Agreement. Picture: SNS

While the administrators were at Tynecastle yesterday conducting a cull of non-playing staff, manager Gary Locke was meeting with individual players at Riccarton, appealing with them to accept a dip in salary to help see the Gorgie outfit through to the new season.

It is understood that the club’s longest serving player, Jamie MacDonald, has already agreed to the proposal, while others will have to mull matters over in the coming 24 hours. But while Locke had hoped that wage concessions could safeguard his entire squad, and the administrators have said they are endeavouring to ensure the side remains competitive, insisting that all money raised by the fans will go towards preventing a fire sale, they do envisage further job losses, this time from the playing staff. With 14 administrative employees informed they were losing their jobs yesterday, in a day of high tension and emotion at Tynecastle, Bryan Jackson and Trevor Birch, of administrators BDO, said that it was likely that two senior players and two youth players would be added to the list of casualties as they battled to keep the club afloat ahead of a takeover.

“We’ve had a chat with Gary Locke and taken on his opinion. He was, of course, keen to keep everyone on his playing staff but the decision is commercially driven,” said Jackson. “I can’t confirm the names of the players, that would be disrespectful,” he added, saying that the situation was complicated by the fact it is the close-season and players were on holidays, but those  affected should find out today.

While some of the higher earners such as MacDonald will be retained subject to a slash in salary, it is predicted that other experienced players may not be as lucky as the administrators seek to ensure the wage bill is sustainable.

The likes of John Sutton, Jamie Hamill and Ryan Stevenson are among those who cost the club the most cash each month, leading to suggestions that they would be favourites to be cut adrift, but the high earners have been asked to consider a drop in salary and, with administration already forcing the club to start the new campaign with a 15-point deficit, Locke is keen to retain as much experience as possible. It means that second tier earners such as Scott Robinson, who signed a new two-year deal last year but sat out the latter stages of the season through injury, could also be considered, with the midfield one area of the team where they still have  options.

Birch, who was also involved with the Portsmouth administration, confirmed that players may have to accept reduced wages, but suggested that Danny Wilson would not be part of that, stating that he was not one of the club’s assets. However, his colleague, Jackson, who has, most recently, been involved in salvaging the situation at Dunfermline, said that if the fans rally to the cause and there is a jump in season ticket sales or donations into the club over the next couple of weeks, he did not envisage further cuts to the  playing squad.

“There’s a distinct possibility we may have to sell players if there is nowhere else for us to go and we might not be able to resist a stupid, ridiculous offer that comes in for a player, but if we sell season tickets then it means we won’t have to accept a  derisory offer.

“We’re trying to remain competitive with the players we have left. We had 26 players [in the first team squad] and four are going potentially, which leaves a tight pool.”

Jackson will today meet with the SPL and the SFA to try to allay fears ahead of the new campaign. Insisting the current wages and the business are sustainable if they can steer the club through the short-term cashflow problems, Jackson said that, while he could offer no guarantees that the club would be able to fulfil next term’s fixtures, he and his fellow BDO representatives would not be adopting their strategy if they did not believe it would be possible. “We can’t give false hopes and promises but, of course, it [the club] is saveable.”