Jackson: Budge hasn’t panicked, she’s just moved to save her club

into the financial abyss were over, so does she deserve criticism for this position?

BJ: Any criticism’s a bit unfair because this is unprecedented.

It has accelerated and come from nowhere. The scale of the problem is unknown. I’m not sure they are living close to the edge but Ann said in an interview they could drop £1m of outcome and you wouldn’t expect clubs to have that amount of money in the bank.

Q. Do you feel Hearts have veered away from the Budge business model in the early days when the club vowed not to hand out big contracts?

BJ: My observation has been they’ve been running the club very well. Ann at this stage is taking precautions and is being proactive. It’s probably better than doing nothing and waiting until it overtakes you.

Q. When Budge took over you felt she was the right person to be at the helm. Has that changed at all?

BJ: I have no information that would change that. If they’ve spent a lot on players, etc, then it’s a football club and there are big demands to make sure you get the best team out within your budget. I’ve no reason to believe she hasn’t done that.

The difference between this and the past is we knew what the end game was and a rough timescale. This time we don’t know if it’s one month, two months, three, and it’s scary so I understand why people have lots of concerns.

Q. If everyone has those fears, why are Hearts the only club to take such drastic action?

BJ: Everyone will be in different boats. Ann might just be strong and has decided it is right for her club rather than waiting to see what others do.

Q. If assets such as Aaron Hickey refuse to take a cut and walk away then that doesn’t make good business sense.

BJ: You could be endangering assets to some extent but they may have taken a view that if expensive players leave they’ve not really lost an asset particularly if they don’t have a sale value. If they have a sale value then you take a risk of asset dissipation.