Hearts to be fan owned by start of next season
ANN BUDGE has revealed that Hearts are on course to officially become a fan-owned club by the start of next season.
Budge rescued the Jambos from impeding liquidation in the summer of 2014, shelling out £2.5m to purchase the club and its assets from administrators, BDO.
An agreement was struck that supporters’ group Foundation of Hearts [FoH] would purchase her 75.1 per cent majority shareholder once that sum had been repaid.
It was confirmed more than a year ago that £2.4m has been reimbursed by FoH — which has also supported the club with more than £10m via monthly pledges — leaving just the formality of transferring £100,000 to complete the handover.
However, the process was placed on pause during the Covid pandemic, with all parties keen to wait and mark the occasion with a suitable celebration at a packed Tynecastle. But with that prospect no closer to coming to pass, Budge has declared: why wait?
“We are working on it quite extensively at the moment,” the Hearts owner confirmed. “Last year, it made sense to put it on the back-burner because we wanted to celebrate it when it happens.
“It comes back to when supporters will be able to attend football – so, unless we can be assured that will be early next season, then why are we waiting?
“Some supporters are suspicious at times. If things don’t
happen then there’s almost a suspicion there is something going on. Well, there isn’t anything going on other than a pandemic!
“We are looking at the technicalities of what needs to happen now to just set a date for it to happen. I would like it to be in place for next season and, unless something crops up, I would like to think it can be done by then.”
Budge has also delivered an update on Hearts’ planning — or lack thereof — for their season ticket push.
“I’ve said don’t even think about putting season tickets on sale until we absolutely have to,” continued Budge. “It certainly won’t be any time soon.
“It can’t be: ‘Supporters are desperate to come back, let’s get season tickets out there.’ That’s not the right way of doing it.
“That seems weird when we’re desperate for income, but if we go about this the wrong way it will be a disaster. For the next couple of seasons it’s going to be essential spend, minimising loss and just surviving.”
DAVE KING will give Rangers supporters ‘as long as it takes’ to complete the share purchase that will give them an Ibrox boardroom voice and the chance to safeguard the club for generations to come.
The former Ibrox chairman has agreed a £13million deal with Club 1872 that will see the supporter organisation aim to move beyond the 25 percent shares threshold in RIFC plc by taking on the major stake that he holds.
The move could lead to Club 1872 having a presence at the Ibrox top table and give fans the opportunity to have a meaningful say in the future of Rangers as they emerge from the most difficult period in their history with a 55th title triumph.
King said: “In terms of my, if I can use the word, achievement – it would be winning the league and saying to the supporters, ‘I asked you guys for your support more than once’ on the basis the target was to win the league and become the number one club in Scotland.
“I think that ends with winning the league title. Then, if I look at it from a legacy point of view, it would be the transfer of shares to the fans.
“I was recently shown a YouTube video of my very first talk with Rangers supporters, which I hadn’t seen before, on the day of the EGM in 2014.
“It included the quote that I wanted to see increased shareholder support at board level. To some extent, what has happened since has reinforced that.
“No matter how successful the club is, it can turn around quite quickly and the support can start to feel disconnected from the board. We have seen that over the last few months on the other side of the city.
“The best way to avoid that level of disconnection is for the supporters to have a seat at the board, make sure their views are heard at every single board meeting and that they know what is going on at the club.
“So I deeply hope there is an effective transfer of shares to supporters over the next couple of years. I am happy to extend the period for as long as it takes, as long as there is interest from supporters.
“If that doesn’t happen, then I’ll just continue to be a shareholder and supporter myself.”
ERLING Braut Haaland was at his brilliant best last night as the Norwegian wunderkind struck twice to send Borussia Dortmund through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Germans, who sent La Liga side Sevilla crashing out the tournament, held a 3-2 lead from the first leg in Spain last month.
Haaland opened the scoring ten minutes before half-time with Marco Reus providing the assist.
He missed a chance to double his tally from the penalty spot within minutes of the restart, only to make amends six minutes later with another spot-kick.
Julien Lopetegui’s men were down but not out, though, and the visitors ensured a nervy finale at Signal Iduna Park.
Youssef El-Nesyri pulled one back – again a penalty – with 20 minutes to go before former Barcelona midfielder teed the same man up to make it 2-2 on the night as the game entered stoppage time but it proved to be too little, too late as Dortmund triumphed 5-4 on aggregate.
After his latest eyecatching display, Haaland now has 20 goals in just 14 Champions Leaugue games.
And in the evening’s other last-16 tie, Porto caused a huge upset as the Liga Nos side dumped Italian giants Juventus out the competition in extra-time.
Sergio Oliviera stunned the hosts after converting a penalty 20 minutes into the contest but the Old Lady rallied. Summer signing Federico Chiesa reduced the deficit shortly before half-time before two bookings in the space of three minutes resulted in Porto’s Medhi Taremi being given his marching orders.
Chiesa struck again to take the tie to extra-time before a superb Oliveira free-kick with just a few minutes left sealed a momentous Porto win in a frantic finale. Adrien Rabiot pulled one back but it was too late as the visitors progressed on away goals.