What is happening to Scottish Football??

[paul merson]

Hearts prepare for administration over financial woes• Club faced with winding-up order last week over tax bill
• SPL imposes transfer embargo after players not paid
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guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 June 2013 09.22 AEST
The Hearts squad was put up for sale in a bid to raise £500,000 needed to see the club through to the start of the new season. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
Hearts are to go into administration, the Scottish Premier League club has confirmed, and they are understood to have approached the accountancy firm KPMG to act as their administrators.

A club spokesman said: "We are not in administration yet but we have served our intention to appoint administrators."

A number of the club's creditors have been informed of the latest developments and sources close to Hearts expect a hearing to take place within the "next couple of days".

Hearts were faced with a winding-up order last week after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs threatened action over an unpaid £100,000 tax bill, although the majority of that sum has since been paid.

The Tynecastle club were then hit with an immediate transfer embargo by the Scottish Premier League on Friday after admitting they could not afford to pay their players. The club were already under a temporary signing ban after the league was informed of their tax row.

The SPL took action 24 hours after the club's board said they had entered a "critical" stage in their battle to pay off debts of £25m.

The entire squad was put up for sale in a desperate bid to raise the reported £500,000 needed to see the club through to the start of the new season.

The situation at the two Lithuanian companies which hold large stakes in the club has also increased fears for the future of the Edinburgh club.

The majority shareholder UBIG – which owns a 50% stake in the club – and 29.9% shareholder Ukio Bankas were once controlled by Vladimir Romanov but are now in the throes of being declared insolvent by Kaunas-based authorities.

The club are likely to face a 15-point penalty when the new SPL season kicks off in August.

Top-flight rules state any club suffering an insolvency event will be stripped of 10 points or a third of their previous season's tally, whichever is the greater. Hearts finished the 2012-13 campaign in 10th place with 45 points.

[Bomber]

If Rangers were still in SPL, their home games would have been boosted with some extra coin.

[ozzie owl]

Clubs living beyond their means.

[Hibs seven]

Hearts would have ended up in this situation regardless of who is or isn't in the league, even the most ardent Hearts fan would admit that they had reservations right from the start when the Lithuanians took over.

Even though when I lived in Edinburgh Hibs Hearts had a great rivalry in which the upper hand went in circles although they probably have had the best of the last 20 years I am genuinely sorry that they are in this predicament. Have friends still on the coaching staff there who's jobs will probably be under threat, also many friends follow the Hearts and even a few family(black sheep to be fair).

Read somewhere last week that they have listed the whole playing squad but don't know if that was a short term measure to try and avoid this situation or it is ongoing. Either way if they start next season with a 15 point deduction will be very hard for them and also to attract any new players if they are allowed to do so.

[sephiroth]

no money in the Scottish game aside from the big 2. quite simple.

[ozzie owl]

no money in the Scottish game aside from the big 2. quite simple.

Rangers couldnt survive either, overspent trying to compete in Europe.

[HMFC]

Horrible day for us Jambos. Worse than that day in May of '86.

-15 points before the season starts. A paper thin squad of mainly youngsters and now a transfer embargo. Avoiding relegation next season will be a near miracle.

Just hope a buyer can be found soon or liquidation and Div 3 beckons.

[God is an Englishman]

no money in the Scottish game aside from the big 2. quite simple.

Rangers couldnt survive either, overspent trying to compete in Europe.

We'll never know if they could have survived or not because it never made it to court to decide if they did actually owe the money or not.

[Brian the Postman]

no money in the Scottish game aside from the big 2. quite simple.

Rangers couldnt survive either, overspent trying to compete in Europe.

We'll never know if they could have survived or not because it never made it to court to decide if they did actually owe the money or not.

Is that because the owners didn't have the moral fortitude for their day in court?

[DOC]

this has been coming for years, mad vlad ruined the club

[Old Master]

I would suggest Scotland's problems are similar to those facing Australia in the grocery market.

Two massive organisations totally dominate the market and suck the life out of any opposition.

Celtic & Rangers have totally dominated the game for so long that no one else has any chance of getting anywhere. As soon as a club starts to make any headway, the big two buy their best players to stop them in their tracks.

No one new is going to invest in any other club as it's just a hopeless task and a waste of money trying.

All anyone else can hope for is to qualify for a minor European competition by winning the cup final - and that doesn't happen often.

The other clubs also can't afford to develop players as they are taken by the big two as soon as they look promising.

The only hope is for Celtic to go bust like Rangers and at least for a few years the others might have a chance to win something.

[DOC]

I would suggest Scotland's problems are similar to those facing Australia in the grocery market.

Two massive organisations totally dominate the market and suck the life out of any opposition.

Celtic & Rangers have totally dominated the game for so long that no one else has any chance of getting anywhere. As soon as a club starts to make any headway, the big two buy their best players to stop them in their tracks.

No one new is going to invest in any other club as it's just a hopeless task and a waste of money trying.

All anyone else can hope for is to qualify for a minor European competition by winning the cup final - and that doesn't happen often.

The other clubs also can't afford to develop players as they are taken by the big two as soon as they look promising.

The only hope is for Celtic to go bust like Rangers and at least for a few years the others might have a chance to win something.

so much fail in this post, teams from the championship and epl dont buy from the spl?

hearts situation is completely separate from what happened to rangers and other problems in scottish football


and celtic will never go bust, we have a better financial situation than many of the epl sides

[jimbo]

You were days away from going bust in the 90's.

[HMFC]

Hearts officially now in the hands of administrators BDO (same mob looking after Dunfermline).
They think Hearts can be saved but even more players and staff are expected to lose jobs.
If we can avoid liquidation I can't see us making up the 15 point deduction unless Partick Thistle are worse than Dundee were last term.
If relegation does happen the biggest games in Scotland in the 14/15 season will be Hearts v Rangers in Div 1 (assuming Rangers win div 2 this season).

[DOC]

You were days away from going bust in the 90's.

really? I ever knew that!!

[DOC]

Hearts officially now in the hands of administrators BDO (same mob looking after Dunfermline).
They think Hearts can be saved but even more players and staff are expected to lose jobs.
If we can avoid liquidation I can't see us making up the 15 point deduction unless Partick Thistle are worse than Dundee were last term.
If relegation does happen the biggest games in Scotland in the 14/15 season will be Hearts v Rangers in Div 1 (assuming Rangers win div 2 this season).

meanwhile celtic will host barcelona et al

[HMFC]

Hearts officially now in the hands of administrators BDO (same mob looking after Dunfermline).
They think Hearts can be saved but even more players and staff are expected to lose jobs.
If we can avoid liquidation I can't see us making up the 15 point deduction unless Partick Thistle are worse than Dundee were last term.
If relegation does happen the biggest games in Scotland in the 14/15 season will be Hearts v Rangers in Div 1 (assuming Rangers win div 2 this season).

meanwhile celtic will host barcelona et al

Sorry. I didn't know Barca were moving to Scotland.

[jimbo]

You were days away from going bust in the 90's.

really? I ever knew that!!

Don't know much about your own club then!

Read about the Fergus McCann takeover of the early 90's, then you will know how close they were to being declared bankrupt.

[Old Master]

You were days away from going bust in the 90's.

really? I ever knew that!!

Don't know much about your own club then!

Read about the Fergus McCann takeover of the early 90's, then you will know how close they were to being declared bankrupt.

Pity it didn't happen then.

Not that I dislike Celtic or anything, I just believe they are too big for the good of the rest of clubs.

I know ManUre have dominated English football for twenty-odd years but other clubs have had their chances and it's getting harder every year.

Real & Barca dominate in Spain but even there it is nowhere near like the dominance of Celtic & Rangers.

[DOC]

You were days away from going bust in the 90's.

really? I ever knew that!!

Don't know much about your own club then!

Read about the Fergus McCann takeover of the early 90's, then you will know how close they were to being declared bankrupt.

Lol I didn't know blue txt was required

[DOC]

Pity it didn't happen then.

Not that I dislike Celtic or anything, I just believe they are too big for the good of the rest of clubs.

I know ManUre have dominated English football for twenty-odd years but other clubs have had their chances and it's getting harder every year.

Real & Barca dominate in Spain but even there it is nowhere near like the dominance of Celtic & Rangers.

Every league is generally dominated by a few big clubs and every now and then someone else gives it a shake

Your views are very negative and naive, Celtic have a solid business model which allows us to be successful

[Adolf Hītler]

For your sake I hope it stays that way.

[Old Master]

Pity it didn't happen then.

Not that I dislike Celtic or anything, I just believe they are too big for the good of the rest of clubs.

I know ManUre have dominated English football for twenty-odd years but other clubs have had their chances and it's getting harder every year.

Real & Barca dominate in Spain but even there it is nowhere near like the dominance of Celtic & Rangers.

Every league is generally dominated by a few big clubs and every now and then someone else gives it a shake

Your views are very negative and naive, Celtic have a solid business model which allows us to be successful

I am not being negative - just telling as I see it.

I played at a few Scottish grounds in my day and most of them were worse than most English 'Conference', as it's called today, grounds at the time.

The only exceptions were R & C and a couple of clubs like Aberdeen.

All the clubs hated R & C but depended on them for the occasional full-house.

That is the sad reason for the decline in Scottish football.

Sure they still develop the odd gem but nothing near the numbers they developed in the 50's & 60's when just about every English club had a core of Scottish players.

Players like Denis Law, Billy Bremner, Willy Johnston to name a few were world class.

[Jay Walking]

The question is, how to fix the issues in Scotland. Celtic is so far in front of everyone else with a large stadium and good corporate backing. The rest of the clubs almost look semi professional. The standard and quality of the league has dropped a lot in the last 5 years, lets be honest 10 years. What can actually be done to fix it?

How many SPL clubs made a profit this year out of interest?

[Adolt Hıtler]

How many SPL clubs made a profit this year out of interest?

On interest alone you'd have to have substantial coin in the bank.

[DOC]

The question is, how to fix the issues in Scotland. Celtic is so far in front of everyone else with a large stadium and good corporate backing. The rest of the clubs almost look semi professional. The standard and quality of the league has dropped a lot in the last 5 years, lets be honest 10 years. What can actually be done to fix it?

How many SPL clubs made a profit this year out of interest?

Ill talk to you mate as OM has no idea and is very biased in many if his views

The hearts situation is an isolated one due to poor management

The standard of football is ok at times then players like goodwillie etc leave and got to Blackburn and don't play and then Rhodes chooses the championship over a move north, there is no pull for players this is the main issue and one which is affecting Celtic in the transfer market, last 16 of the champions league yet we are not big players in the transfer window and we have to try and keep our best players

[Knight15]

I hoped the GFC might encourage the English clubs to vote Celtic into the Championship, with a second side in the SPL, Celtic Park would be full one week and over 40,000 the next, even when Rangers make it back, the Scottish game will never compete with the big European Teams, we need the money from the EPL etc

[God is an Englishman]

I hoped the GFC might encourage the English clubs to vote Celtic into the Championship, with a second side in the SPL, Celtic Park would be full one week and over 40,000 the next, even when Rangers make it back, the Scottish game will never compete with the big European Teams, we need the money from the EPL etc

have said it before and I'll say it again. If you want to join then put a side into the northern league and come up through the ranks.

What's in it for the likes of crewe, history stealers or franchise fc to vote a Scottish side into the championship?

[Crewe Head]

What's in it for the likes of crewe, history stealers or franchise fc to vote a Scottish side into the championship?

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[God is an Englishman]

What's in it for the likes of crewe, history stealers or franchise fc to vote a Scottish side into the championship?

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Assuming you're not a bodo alias, nice to have a crewe supporter on board. Seen crewe play many times, I was even at all your play off games in 96.