Hearts propose 50% wage cut for all players and staff

[craig 5,199]

Stendel has offered to work for free.  Very magnanimous of him.  Bravo

[Uilleam 5,929]

History does repeat; this looks like the farce end of the cycle. 

 

 

Queen and her Aberdeen (sic) castle can’t cope in perfect storm

Paul Forsyth

Friday March 20 2020, 12.01am, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/queen-and-her-aberdeen-castle-cant-cope-in-perfect-storm-9vrwpt8xv

 

It has all unravelled for Budge and Hearts within the space of 18 months

 

There was a time, not so long ago, when Ann Budge could do no wrong. The Queen of Hearts extricated the club from administration, moved them in an exciting new direction with a new moral compass and oversaw an expansion of Tynecastle Park that was supposed to maximise their potential.

Well, the new main stand is reported to have cost £9million more than originally promised, Hearts are in the throes of another financial crisis and, while the shirt sponsor says Save the Children, this week’s call for all staff, including players, to take a 50 per cent wage cut suggests that it is the club who need saving.

What a spectacular unravelling it has been for Budge and Hearts in the space of 18 excruciating months. In the early part of last season, they were top of the league and into the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup, but the bottom was to fall out of a club that relied much too heavily on their manager, and director of football, Craig Levein.

Despite successive transfer windows in which he presided over a blur of expensive players coming and going, he had a team that was neither effective nor fun to watch and, when Budge relieved him of his duties in October, Hearts were bottom of the league and unable to arrest the decline.

Nobody quibbled with the level of investment, but then again, nobody expected Hearts to find themselves in a relegation battle. Add to that a new head coach, Daniel Stendel, whose tactics were ill-suited to a survival scrap, as well as a vacuum in the football department that Levein controlled, and a perfect storm was brewing.

When coronavirus came along, Hearts were the footballing equivalent of society’s most vulnerable — victims with an underlying health problem.

Budge has got a lot right, especially the club’s social ethos, but her ignorance of football matters left them playing catch-up. And there is no room for that when the game is crippled by a global health crisis.

The measures that were announced on Wednesday were desperate. PFA Scotland yesterday met with players to discuss the way ahead. Legal opinion suggested that Hearts were within their rights because of the language used in the statement. They only “proposed” the club-wide salary reduction. If staff were unwilling or unable to accept, they would be “offered” a termination of their deal.

If there is a clause in their contracts, entitling Hearts to suspend pay — and that theory was also doing the rounds last night — it is a kick in the teeth for players, especially those who were lured to Tynecastle on the promise of a lucrative package.

Steven Naismith, previously with Norwich City, signed a four-year deal last summer that was likely to be the last of his career. Liam Boyce agreed a three-year contract in January that is reported to be worth £6,000 a week, more than Aberdeen and numerous others could afford.

As it turns out, Hearts could not afford it either.

 

Budge claimed that the suspension of the season was going to cost them £1million, but much of that was due to come from a Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibs that they would not have budgeted for. The SFA promised this week that its flagship competition would be completed later this year.

While there was no official reaction from the players yesterday, some of their fellow professionals were angry. Tam McManus, the former Hibs striker, tweeted: “Seems a convenient way to dump some ‘excess baggage’ ie a HUGE wage bill run up by a succession of managers. This just doesn’t sit well with me at all.

“I would tell the club to f*** off. I have done so in the past when asked to take a 50 per cent wage cut. You sign a contract you honour it or pay it off in full.

“My loyalty is to myself/family. No loyalty whatsoever in football. Clubs treat players like s***e when not wanted.”

With so much uncertainty as to how or whether the Premiership season will be completed, the odds are against Hearts avoiding the drop, and their willingness to let players go suggests that they know it.

Bryan Jackson, who led the administration process in 2013, believes that Budge has moved quickly to prevent another one.

“Ann is looking at the situation, thinking, ‘we’ve already missed games and we don’t know when the picture will change’,” said Jackson. “ ‘It could be two weeks, two months or even longer — so we need to do something right now’. To me, that does seem to be the right thing to do. To wait too long and not do anything could be more dangerous for the sustainability of the club.”

Try telling that to the players. Try telling that to the academy coaches and backroom staff whose halved salary leaves them struggling to pay their bills.

It will be a hard sell also for the anonymous benefactors whose donations of up to £9million kept the club on an even keel for so long. And do not expect the supporters who have already donated a similar figure in the past five years to be quite so enthusiastic about digging deep yet again.

All of which will be embarrassing for Budge, who was hailed as the relegated club’s saviour in 2014 when she stepped in to repair the damage done by her reckless predecessor, Vladimir Romanov.

It would be stretching a point to suggest that Hearts are back where they started, but this was not how it was meant to be when she outlined her vision for the club.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Uilleam

[26th of foot 6,082]

Please allow me to remind Gersnetters of BBC Scotland's mantra for three years :

 

"Hearts are a model club".

[compo 7,030]

A contracts a contract and I would never take any pay cut 

[craig 5,199]

1 hour ago, compo said:

A contracts a contract and I would never take any pay cut 

Whist I understand that perspective.... I personally would be prepared to take a pay cut if it meant that nobody was going to be losing their job.  Better we ALL survive than look after just myself.  For balance, not everyone has that luxury to be even able to take paycuts.

 

I saw yesterday that Johan Djourou and Alex Song both refused paycuts at FC Sion..... both played for Arsenal, Song played for Barcelona... you would like to think that they aren't hurting financially, and you would also like to think that they are receiving a fairly decent wage - without knowing their financial situation I struggle to see why they wouldn't think of the greater good rather than themselves - but, as I said, I don't know their financial situation.

 

And on the flip side of those two, back to Hearts, Dikamona cancelled his contract with Hearts..... got lambasted on social media.... only for him to clarify that he did it to help the club.  He cancelled his contract to save the club money and would be willing to re-sign with Hearts, should they want him, after this all blows over (if you believe him of course and I will give him the benefit of the doubt).