YOU’VE MADE US A LAUGHING STOCK

You’ve made us a laughing stock

HEARTS LEGEND MACKAY HITS OUT AT BLUNDERING BUDGE

FORMER Hearts captain Gary Mackay believes his old club have become a ‘laughing stock’ and should show ‘more class’ by accepting relegation to the Championship.

Hearts owner Ann Budge is threatening legal action if SPFL clubs don’t support her new proposal for league reconstruction that would prevent the Tynecastle side slipping into the Championship.

But Mackay believes the club only have themselves to blame for the position they now find themselves in, with Monday’s SPFL decision to call the Premiership early sending them down because they are sitting bottom of the league.

‘Ann is trying to salvage whatever she can,’ said Mackay. ‘She has put so much into the club, I can understand why she is trying to look at everything possible.

‘(But) there are so many things going on in the world just now — and we are becoming a laughing stock. Hearts have to accept the decision that’s been made with more class than they have up to now.

‘But to continue on the back of this and to say there’s maybe another opportunity to survive, it’s beginning to get a bit wearing.’ Speaking to BBC Scotland’s

Scottish Football Podcast, Mackay added: ‘You can only go on what happens on the playing field and, ultimately, Hearts have shown they aren’t good enough.

‘The thing that muddies it is there has now been a decision made on the Premiership and then in the (Hearts) statement, there could still be reconstruction.

‘Somewhere along the line, do we need to bite the bullet and say we will be in a far stronger position in 12 months’ time, or however long it takes, when we get back to the Premiership?’

Hearts exile Christophe Berra, by contrast, believes the current crisis represents the ‘best opportunity’ for Scottish football to grasp the nettle of league reconstruction.

But he admits it will take something ‘remarkable’ for Budge to get the 11-1 Premiership majority needed to push through her rejigged plans for an extended top flight which would prevent Hearts plummeting to the second tier. Berra, who was punted out to Dundee on loan by head coach Daniel Stendel, said: ‘It’s only a week or so since we were told the reconstruction plans were not happening.

‘Now it comes out again that we have one last chance. And Ann is now trying to put something together to propose it to the rest of the league.

‘It will be our last-chance saloon to reconstruct Scottish football. And I know people say you shouldn’t do things in a rush in these kind of times.

‘But this might be the best opportunity to reconstruct football in Scotland. It has been talked about for many years.

‘From a personal point of view, I think it will be very difficult because there is an 11-1 voting structure in the top league. And, to be honest, 11-1? It’s going to be remarkable if it gets passed.’

On Monday’s decision to call the Premiership table based on points per game, Berra — still hoping to return to Gorgie now that Stendel looks on his way out — said: ‘It was very disappointing.

‘I’m not going to lie, I think we all knew it was going to happen, so it didn’t surprise me at all.

‘Like most clubs we have a group chat and, when the news was released on Monday, the boys were in the chat saying how disappointed they were.

‘These are unprecedented times for everyone. But to be relegated, when we were four points behind second bottom with eight games to play, there were a lot of points still to play for.

‘Don’t get me wrong, we deserved to be at the bottom of Salvage job: Budge threatens legal action but Mackay says that it is time for the Hearts owner to show more class the league because we weren’t good enough.

‘But there have been plenty of teams in the past who have been in that kind of position and got out of it.’

Any legal action taken by Budge, meanwhile, will not be funded by the Foundation of Hearts.

Foundation chairman Stuart Wallace told Sportsmail that the process would be too complicated an administrative exercise for the fans’ group to take on.

‘No, we’re not going to be getting involved in that,’ he said.

‘Ann didn’t ask for us to fund it. I spoke to her directly to say there had been a bit of noise about this.

‘The reason, and Ann agrees with this, is (the) potential for confusion with the payments we already take on a monthly basis, as well as the one-off payments we receive.

‘Now, far be it from me to stand in anybody’s way if they want to help the club fund a legal action.

‘I’ve said quite clearly, and agreed with Ann, that this is not one for the Foundation to lead.

‘It would just be carnage trying to keep all the payments straight, figure out what payments were to go where.’

Wallace also insisted that the fans’ takeover of Hearts, which has been delayed by the coronavirus shutdown, remains on track.

‘As you can imagine, we had provisionally set dates which have come and gone,’ he said.

‘We were due to have an EGM but we obviously can’t have mass gatherings.

‘What I’ve said is that at our next board meeting — and I hate sounding like a politician here — we will produce some sort of road map to completing the transition.

‘When we feel we are successfully out of the lockdown, we can push it through.

‘But there is a legal agreement in place. Ownership has to transfer. But we have to get this crisis out of the way first.’