GO DOWN SWINGING Hearts ‘must’ pursue legal action after relegation
Kelty have ‘very strong case’ against the SPFL
FORMER Hearts chairman Les Deans is convinced the club will have ‘no alternative’ but to drag Scottish football through the courts if Ann Budge’s lastditch bid for league reconstruction fails.
With the SPFL calling a halt to the season because of the coronavirus pandemic and consigning bottom side Hearts to relegation, Deans insists the Tynecastle outfit have been treated ‘quite outrageously’.
A revamp of the divisions, which has already been kiboshed once by top-flight clubs, is the Gorgie side’s next hope as they attempt to avoid dropping into the Championship next term.
But should that fail, Deans, a solicitor to trade, believes Hearts would have a strong case to call for an interdict that would prevent next season from kicking off and leave lawyers to debate the decision to demote Hearts without fulfilling all fixtures, a move Budge believes will cost the club a significant seven-figure sum.
He said: “I’ve given Ann Budge my opinion. I believe Hearts, if they were expelled from the Premiership, would have a good legal case against the SPFL and the member clubs who voted to expel them.
“They’ve decided to expel
Hearts. That is a breach of duty that each club has to the other – and would entitle Hearts to litigate.
“On top of [an interdict], it would be open for Hearts to ask for financial damages. Ann Budge estimates losses at £3 million next season; it could be considerably more than that.
“Who can guarantee they will be promoted next season? There is even the risk that lower-level football will not take place at all next season.
“I believe Ann Budge would like to find a resolution and I wholeheartedly endorse that.
“Nobody wants to see football caught up in courts of law. But the fact remains that Hearts have been treated outrageously. It’s quite disgraceful, what has happened.
“There’s a golden opportunity that has been brought about, to improve the quality of the game as a whole by reconstruction.
“But if reconstruction is completely taken off the table, Hearts have no alternative but to proceed with legal action.
“It is for Ann to decide. She has the best interests of the club at heart.”
Hearts last night threatened the SPFL with legal action if their proposal for league reconstruction wasn’t passed.
In a club statement,
Budge said: “Hearts will shortly submit a member’s resolution that we believe is a pragmatic solution to the issues the game currently faces and a way forward that the clubs can unite behind. It is our belief that this resolution, if supported, will provide an opportunity to avoid disproportionately disadvantaging - financially and otherwise - any club.
“As previously intimated the club has been taking legal advice throughout this process and are continuing to do so. We hope that the resolution being prepared will avoid the need to go down this route. Legal action would be both time consuming and expensive. However the cost to the club of relegation would outweigh these considerations.
“To our supporters, we thank you for showing patience.”
“I said that it meant the world to me because I had had a difficult year or 18 months with depression. I was playing well for Spurs but I got injured.
“Then my uncle took his own life because he suffered with mental health. It just got too much for me.
“I wasn’t sleeping and wasn’t eating. I didn’t have a haircut for a year and didn’t shave for a year.
“When the story broke the next day after I had spoken out at England, we had a game against Costa Rica. People were very positive towards me and I received text messages. The lads, manager and staff all offered their support and it was really overwhelming. I had dealt with it by that time and I thought I was past that stage of my life.
“One of the Costa Rica players pulled me to the side at half-time and thanked me for what I’d done and said I’d helped him out massively. It was then I thought I might be able to help people.
“Even now, if I go out to eat, or go to the supermarket, I get people saying ‘thank you’ and it is just amazing. People will go out of their way to let you know that you have made their day or changed their life just because of something you’ve said.
“I might have thought it wasn’t a big deal, but I realise it was a big deal and I have helped people along the way.
“People need to speak out. Do not be alone. The help is out there, trust me.”