Queen of Hearts is going nowhere
Job done but Anne not for budging as fan ownership begins
AFTER HEARTS became the largest fan-owned club in the UK at the end of August, club chair Ann Budge committed to a minimum of two more years at the club.
Budge and Hearts have come a long way since the local businesswoman, who reportedly cashed in £40 million on selling her IT company in 2005, took over the club in May 2014 and forked out £2.5 million to take them out of administration just 51 weeks after downfall of the Vladimir Romanov regime.
Since then, the Foundation of Hearts, a fan-led group which was set up in 2010 by local businesspeople, all of whom were Hearts’ fans, has raised £12 million for the club through pledges from
Hearts supporters.
The Foundation has roughly 8,000 members, whose monthly pledges have helped build the new main stand at Tynecastle, pay the original £2.5 million loan back to Ann Budge, and much more. Now, Ann Budge’s majority share in the club has been passed over to the Foundation of
Hearts - i.e. the fans.
The message from the Foundation has always been that the club will be fan-owned and not fan-led, so what has exactly changed since the handover?
The Foundation’s members will not get to pick the team, but they will all have a vote in important club proposals, such as changes to Tynecastle Stadium, the club name or colours, as well as the selling of the Foundation’s shares in the club.
To put it simply, never again will an individual like Chris Robinson or Vladimir Romanov be able to gain control of the club without the permission of the supporters through the Foundation.
Hearts have made numerous off-the-field appointments this summer. Joe Savage was brought in as sporting director to oversee recruitment and on-the-field matters, Andrew McKinlay was brought in to take care of the day-to-day running of the club as the new chief executive, and James Anderson was appointed to the Hearts board, having already donated significant monies to Hearts in previous years.
All of these appointments were designed to allow Ann Budge to take a step back and focus solely on her role as chair of the club.
Looking to the future, Budge has confirmed money from various benefactors will continue to reach Tynecastle, and pledges through the Foundation will add to the impressive £12 million already raised.
Budge has assured fans that Hearts are now in a stable position, which certainly hasn’t been the case for the previous decade.
It’s been a difficult journey and some Hearts fans have voiced concerns over some of Budge’s on-the-field decisions, and understandably so. However, she got the ball rolling and stumped up the initial lump sum to take the club out of administration.
The view of some of the founding members of the Foundation, as well as their chair, Stuart Wallace, is very clear - without Ann Budge, there would be no Heart of Midlothian today.