Stendel only had Hearts in mind
HEARTS manager Daniel Stendel insists safeguarding the club’s future was at the forefront of his mind when he decided to waive his wages for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.
Owner Ann Budge took the drastic step of asking all fulltime club employees to take a 50 per cent pay cut on Wednesday, just days after conceding that the suspension of all SPFL football would cost the Gorgie side £1m.
The former Barnsley boss, who has returned to his family home in Germany for the time being, insists forgoing his salary during the hiatus was the right thing to do.
He said: “It’s a difficult situation. I did not do this for everybody to know about it.
“My talk with Ann was about the club and what Ann is trying to do to keep the club up. I thought: ‘On one side, you are not doing your normal work. On the other side, the club needs to save money.’
“You have so many people who work for this club and there is no money coming in. What can I do to help? That was the first thing. I want to help Ann and the club. It is different when you can save money from the manager, coaches or players than from normal employees in the office.
“We all want the club to stay up and we want to make sure, after this difficult time, that we still have a club.
“This was the reason. This is a big club in Scotland and we have the problem of keeping up with the financial situation. I think a lot of other clubs in the Premiership have maybe the same, or maybe more, problems than Hearts.”
In her statement confirming the pay cut, Budge said staff and players would be able to terminate their contracts if they did not want to accept lesser terms.
Defender Clevid Dikamona took to Twitter yesterday to confirm that he would take up that option to return to his family in France, but would be willing to re-sign for the club next term.
Stendel, whose side are four points adrift at the Premiership basement, admits he does not know whether other players will follow suit.
He added: “I have no idea, really. I said to Ann and to the players that we need a solution
“After this break, we want to play for Hearts. For this, we need to keep the club up. I hope it was a good example and for everybody to do their part to keep this club up.”