Lee Wallace urges old Hearts colleagues to keep focus

LEE Wallace has advised his former Hearts team-mates to “focus on the football” as the Edinburgh club battles for survival.

The Rangers defender experienced financial turmoil first-hand when the Ibrox side were plunged into administration in February before being consigned to liquidation in the summer.

Rangers were subsequently relaunched as a newco in the Irn-Bru Third Division and will play host to Peterhead at Ibrox today as they continue on the road to recovery.

Hearts were issued with a winding up order by HMRC earlier this week over a tax bill of almost £450,000, with the club admitting they may not survive beyond the next couple of weeks if they fail to find the cash to settle the bill.

Wallace hopes his old club can come through a critical period and told the players all they can do right now is ensure they deliver the results on the park.

He said: “The main focus for the players will be on the match day, they will be preparing for the game. The best advice you can give them is to focus on the football.

“The events will hopefully unfold in a good way but the players have to focus on the game and represent themselves well on a Saturday.

“I’ve got a lot of sympathy for what’s going on there. I had a number of years at Hearts and got my football apprenticeship from them. There are a lot of players that I keep in touch with and I’ve got a lot of good memories.

“It’s not a great time for the club and I don’t think it will be a great time for Scottish football if it’s the worst case scenario for them. I spent many years there and I just hope for the sake of the club that they can keep going.”

Hearts have urged their fans to buy tickets for home games and invest in a recently launched share issue to generate much-needed income.

Wallace said: “You need as much support as possible because that’s what it’s all about. You need everyone to rally around and come together. It’s going to take something like that to keep the club where it is. I don’t know a lot of the details to be fair but I do know it will take support from elsewhere to try to keep them going.

“I think Hearts can certainly look at us as an example. We are still playing football and we are on the road to recovery and we are doing our best to get back to where we belong.”