Hearts chief is training at the leash for next project McKinlay eyes the future at Oriam

by iaN oRR Hearts chief andrew McKinlay insists sorting out a long-term training base is his next big project.

McKinlay was heavily involved in the Tynecastle club opening a 25bedroom hotel within their stadium at the start of the month.

That venture is expected to boost the club’s finances by seven figures every year.

The lease on the club’s training facilities at the Oriam, Scotland’s sports performance centre within the grounds of Heriot-Watt University, runs until 2029.

Hearts want greater exclusivity of the facilities but are also looking at whether building their own complex elsewhere is feasible.

Chief executive McKinlay said: “The next big project is the training ground.

“I’ve been working on that for a long time and I’m still working on that.

“We are still five years out from our lease up at Oriam but I’ve already had some discussions with them about what is possible up there.

“We’ve also looked at alternative sites. Oriam is our preference.

“With the Oriam we are at the stage of looking at feasibility studies of what a better training facility at Oriam would look like, how we would fund that and all these sorts of things. That is one of the focus areas this calendar year.”

McKinlay admits cash generated from the hotel will

TRaiNiNg SigHTS oN MoRe McKinlay, below, is mulling potential of Oriam, above be crucial in the Jambos’ bid to establish themselves as the third force in Scottish football. The Gorgie outfit cannot bring in any more income from season tickets with a waiting list already in place. McKinlay said: “There’s finite income. We’ve sold out the season tickets and you only get a finite amount of prize money from the SPFL. It might go up a little bit but not a huge amount. “And you can’t guarantee European group stage football or player trading, so you’ve got to look at other ways you can make money. “We’ve got this brilliant asset here that is only used 25 days a year for football, roughly. So what about the other 340-odd days? “This just gives it an extra string to its bow. It should allow us to do a lot more on those days and make more money. All that money then goes back into the team. You are talking millions every year.”