The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Owner won’t Budge on war following loss
Hearts owner Ann Budge has vowed the club will come back stronger and “win the war” after losing their legal battle against relegation.
Budge’s club joined forces with Partick Thistle to challenge their relegations following the early end to last season but suffered a unanimous defeat after an arbitration hearing.
The pair saw demands for a combined £10 million compensation payout rejected and now face the prospect of paying at least some of the legal costs of the Scottish Professional Football League and promoted clubs Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers as the arbitration panel considers expenses claims.
They also face Scottish Football Association disciplinary action for initially taking their case to the Court of Session.
Budge claimed she was not “totally surprised” by the outcome of their unfair prejudice claim against the SPFL after being warned by her legal team that they faced an “uphill battle”, but she felt they had to fight rather than “simply sit back and accept the unfairness that was being meted out to us”.
Budge added: “What has been allowed to happen in Scottish football, where fellow member clubs and our governing bodies have stood back and allowed totally disproportionate financial damage to be imposed on three of its members, can only be described as shameful... as, indeed, should the SPFL’s recent self-congratulatory statement.”
But she will now focus on helping Hearts bounce back by winning the Championship, having put her faith in new manager Robbie Neilson, the man that led them to promotion in 2015.
She added: “We look forward, once again, to celebrating a successful year, culminating in winning the Championship and getting back to where we belong. Robbie has done it before and, with your support, we can make this a year to remember for the right reasons as well as the wrong.
“I am sorry we did not win this battle but as we all know, it is winning the war that counts.”