I STEPPED UP TO HELP OUT THE POOREST

BY ROSS PILCHER

BIG-HEARTED James Anderson decided to invest in Scottish football due to the impact it has on deprived communities.

The Edinburgh-based fund manager rode to the rescue with a £3million donation this summer, the largest in the game’s history, to allow clubs to cope with the shutdown.

The crisis grant went towards testing and Covid-19 related expenses.

It was not dependent on clubs voting to keep Hearts up despite Anderson and other backers ploughing more than £9million into the Jambos in recent years.

He’s also made further donations to women’s football and youth football to ease financial burdens on all areas of the sport.

And the Baillie Gifford investor has explained that football’s importance to towns and communities across Scotland, a number of which are heavily reliant on clubs, is why he decided to generously bankroll various projects.

He said: “I didn’t realise such news reached the west coast of America, where Scottish football can’t be high on the priority list.

“It’s personal rather than anything else. Sadly there are very few institutions that cross the boundaries of sobriety at the moment.

“Sport, in particular football, is one of those.

“In many areas of Britain – and I’d estimate more broadly – it’s one of the few lifestyles, hobbies or sports that is able to provide an outlet in deprived, suffering, smaller towns. We certainly have many of those.

“I also think it’s pretty important to be doing this for women’s sport and youth sport at the same time. It’s not simply about the professional game, although that’s obviously more high-profile and popular.

“These are some of the most important institutions to maintain.”