HEARTS STOPPER
O’Donnell and Co to depart Kilmarnock
CHRISTOPHE BERRA fears Ann Budge’s attempts to push through league reconstruction and save Hearts from relegation are doomed to failure.
Following the SPFL’s decision to draw a line under the season on Monday, the Tynecastle outfit are facing up to the realities of life in the Championship next term and an expected £3million blackhole in their finances.
The Gorgie side have been given a glimmer of hope after Budge was allowed to draw up a proposal on a restructure that would keep her team – just four points adrift at the bottom with 24 points still to play for – in the top flight.
However, Berra reckons the odds are stacked against Budge succeeding because of the prohibitive SPFL voting structure and he admits it would be ‘remarkable’ if her plans win approval.
Addressing the decision to relegate Hearts prematurely, he commented: “Obviously it was very disappointing. I’m not going to lie, I think we all knew it was going to happen. It didn’t surprise me at all.
“It’s unprecendented times for everyone and [being] four points behind second bottom with eight games to go there were a lot of points still to play for.
“Don’t get me wrong, we deserve to be at the bottom of the league just now because we’ve not been good enough.
“But in the past there have been many teams who have been in that kind of position before and have got out of it.
“I think it was a week or so ago that the reconstruction plans weren’t happening but at the end of last week it came out again that we have one last chance.
“Ann Budge is trying to put something together to propose it to the rest of the league.
“Hopefully that will be voted through, for a 14-team league or a 16-team league; I don’t know what those proposals will be.
“But that will be our lastchance saloon to reconstruct Scottish football.
“People say you don’t do things in a rush, in these sorts of times, but it might be the best opportunity to reconstruct football in Scotland. It’s been talked about for many years and this might be the last chance.
“From a personal point of view, I do think it will be very difficult.
“There is an 11-1 voting structure in the top league and, to be honest, that’s going to be
SCOTLAND international Stephen O’Donnell has rejected the chance to sign a new deal with Kilmarnock and will leave the Ayrshire club this summer.
The 28-year-old full-back, who has earned a club record-equalling 11 Scotland caps while at Rugby Park, is one of 12 players who are moving on.
Laurentiu Branescu, Harry Bunn, Dario Del Fabro, Adam Frizzell, Niko Hamalainen, Stephen Hendrie, Connor Johnson, Jan Koprivec, Devlin Mackay, Harvey St Clair and Iain Wilson are the others.
Kilmarnock manager Alex Dyer said: “It is never easy to see players depart the club, especially in these circumstances where the guys have not had the chance to say goodbye to the crowd and the fans have not had the opportunity to thank the players for their contribution.
“In Stephen’s case, we tried our very best to keep him and spoke on numerous occasions both in person and on the phone but he wants to explore his options as he’s entitled to do as a free agent.”