Now it’s anarchy
Clubs line up to have a go at the SPFL as the game slumps to its most chaotic state in living memory
Scottish football yesterday hit new levels of acrimony ahead of the crucial vote on the SPFL’S leadership of the game. Partick Thistle ripped into the League, claiming they had been “forgotten, ignored, and patronised”. Ann Budge refused to rule out legal action if Hearts are relegated. Rangers chairman Douglas Park pledged to fund the cost of an independent investigation should Tuesday’s EGM go their way.
And Lowland League chairman George Fraser claimed the SPFL had pressured them to accept Brechin City, should the club be relegated.
Former Hearts chairman Leslie Deans has called on the club’s fans to fund legal action against the SPFL.
The Tynecastle club look certain to be relegated when the 2019- 20 season is brought to an end this week.
Any escape route from the drop vanished when talks about league reconstruction were scrapped.
Deans, an Edinburgh lawyer, believes Hearts could seek a interdict to stop football playing next season and claim for damages.
He said: “The financial loss that is coming from this is falling on one club from the SPFL’S 42 member clubs and one club alone, with a minor part of that loss being shared by Partick Thistle and Stranraer.
“At one fell swoop, the SPFL have alienated their third- biggest customer.
“We’re now at the stage where Hearts, along with Partick Thistle and Stranraer are going to be relegated.
“When that happens, Hearts only option is to go down the legal route.
“Ann Budge was quite right to hold off until she saw if reconstruction could achieve anything.
“I would now be taking legal action against the SPFL and the member clubs who voted to eject Hearts from the league.
“When clubs form a common purpose, they have a duty of care to each other in common law.
“They have failed in that and their failure leads directly to Hearts ejection from the league.
“As much as I admire Ann’s ‘no hard feelings’ approach, the fans of Hearts are spitting blood at the present time.”
Deans concedes that preventing a new season starting is unlikely to happen, but he urged supporters to give cash for legal expenses
and promised to make a donation himself.
He added: “As well as damages, which Ann Budge estimated at £3 million, Hearts could in theory seek an interdict, which is the Scottish equivalent of an injunction, to prevent football being played if Hearts were excluded.
“My own view is that such an interdict is unlikely. I can’t see a court granting it but it could be part of a claim for damages in the same case.
“Expenses could be a stumbling block. My own estimate of a case to Hearts could be between a quarter and half-a-million pounds.
“But Ann can no doubt ask legal firms to give her an estimate in advance of what legal costs would be.
“I know that Ann did say a few weeks ago that Hearts have lost a £1m of income from home games and a Scottish Cup semi- final against Hibs.
“There is a big financial loss to Hearts, and the way to overcome it would be to start crowdfunding under the auspices of the Foundation of Hearts.
“There is 8,000 members in the organisation. Get together and get the money to the club.
“I will start the ball rolling personally with a four- figure donation. Others can do the same.
“Remember, if Hear ts are successful they can ask the court to award costs for the whole action.
“I would say about the court action, being mindful of duties to others that have been wronged, I would invite Partick Thistle and Stranraer to join us at no expense to themselves in that action.
“The Hearts fans who pay their money through the gates, the people who keep the club going, are incensed by this.
“I believe the club have got a duty to their own fans to take this as far as they possibly can.”