WE WON’T BUDGE
Hearts reject takeover bid from Barnsley chief Conway
ANN BUDGE has turned down the offer of Hearts takeover talks with Barnsley chief Paul Conway.
And Premiership rivals Motherwell are also poised to reject an approach from the wealthy owners of the English Championship club.
As Sportsmail first revealed, American businessman Conway is in the market to add an SPFL team to a footballing empire which already incorporates Barnsley and Swiss side FC Thun.
A bid to buy Championship strugglers Partick Thistle was frustrated by dual-ownership rules last year.
With the SFA willing to relax those regulations to attract investment to a Scottish game stricken by the coronavirus crisis, however, Conway has already made overtures to Hearts and Motherwell.
Affter releasing a stronglyworded statement yesterday defending the Tynecastle club’s request to staff to accept a 50-per-cent pay cut, Budge confirmed that a conversation with Barnsley’s co-chairman has already taken place.
Reiterating plans to hand over her 75.1-per-cent stake in the club to fans’ group Foundation of Hearts later this year, she told
Sportsmail: ‘I did receive a call from Paul and, indeed, over recent months I have received similar calls from a number of other would-be investors.
‘In line with my contractual commitment to the fans to
transfer ownership of Hearts to them, other than informing the Hearts’ board of the approaches, I have pursued none of them.’
Sportsmail can also reveal that a colleague of Conway’s made contact with Motherwell in recent days. Debt-free for the first time in 40 years following the January sale of James Scott to Hull City for £1.5million, the Lanarkshire club believe they can withstand the temporary loss of income wrought by the suspension of Scottish football. Willing to hold talks with any SPFL clubs who have realistic ambitions of top-tier football, however, Conway told Sportsmail yesterday: ‘We want to take this opportunity in the current environment to say to clubs in Scotland: “We are open for business”. ‘We are hearing there might be more flexibility with regard to dual ownership, which might be a good thing during this difficult period for clubs. ‘We can move fast for the right opportunity in the Scottish league and we are open to creative deals. ‘To that end, we have told the SFA and the league to feel free to get the word out that we are open to conversations with Scottish clubs.’ Both the SFA and the English Football League have explicit rules governing individuals in charge of a club controlling or having a major say in another British side without written consent. Newcastle owner Mike Ashley obtained permission to take a ten-per-cent financial stake in Rangers — but was charged by the governing body when he tried to install his own directors on the Ibrox board. Frustrated by the same rules when he tried to secure a 55-per-cent stake in Partick Thistle last year, Conway travelled to Glasgow for talks on four separate occasions before the Firhill club were eventually purchased for fans by late lottery winner Colin Weir. To avoid lightning striking twice, Conway has entered correspondence with the SFA over a relaxation of the rules — with the governing body now willing to consider allowing existing owners of British clubs to take up a 24.9-per-cent stake in a Scottish team. Meanwhile, Budge’s insistence that she has no intention of doing business with Conway came on the day that she claimed Hearts could not survive a six-month shutdown without wage reductions. Defending her demand for 50-per-cent pay cuts, she said: ‘I see absolutely no reason for sitting back and waiting either on a miracle or for the government to bail out every company in the country.’