The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
brother Mackay: Budge let down by those around her at Jambos
Hearts legend Gary Mackay insists the only mistake owner Ann Budge has made is placing too much faith in those around her to deliver results on and off the pitch.
Budge last week took the drastic step of asking all full-time staff at the club to take a 50% pay cut due to the financial implications of the SPFL being suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The spectre of relegation also looms large, with Hearts four points adrift bottom of the table and fearing the football authorities could declare that the current positions are final.
Mackay, the club’s all-time record appearance holder, has seen the cost of the new main stand almost double to reach a staggering £22.5 million.
However, the 56-year-old believes majority shareholder Budge has been let down by gross under performance on the pitch since December 2016 under managers Ian Cathro, Craig Levein and now Daniel Stendel.
Mackay said: “If you put trust in people you want them to repay that trust with positive outcomes.
“Ann has been used to that through her previous successful company, but unfortunately the delegation in various departments at Hearts has not matched her own desire to succeed.
“When I saw her on the television the other day I thought she look visibly strained and I think that’s because she does have a deep-rooted feeling for the club and she has invested a lot of money and a lot of time.
“But unfortunately the model, in inverted commas, that was put in place for the football department has failed miserably.
“The measures that have been taken, yes they’re looking at the wellbeing of the club but the reason for me they’ve been put in place is because of the overspend during the last three or four, five years in the football club without achieving anything like we should have been capable of with the squad we’ve had.
“The opportunity to rebuild the club positively as a whole has been missed over the last, four, five years.”
Hearts manager Stendel has waived his wages for the duration of football being suspended but Mackay feels for the staff behind the scenes, particularly those who had to live through the administration crisis.
He added: “I think you have to separate the actual non-footballing staff to the football staff.
“The non-football staff have been through a precarious situation in the past and have been asked to take a hit again.
“The fact there has been an overspend in the football budget without meeting the targets that have been set, plus the overspend on the main stand to get it to the standard it is, have these things caught up with us with something that is totally out with the club’s control? Probably.”