They have hit the headlines over concerns of their financial well being.
They have been slapped with a bill from HRMC over unpaid taxes.
No the club in question is not Rangers, but Hearts.
Due to the poor economic state of the SPL football fans north of the border have sadly been accustomed to stories raising concerns over the finances of clubs on a regular basis.
And whilst the spotlight has centred on events in the south of Glasgow, attention is now shifting through to the capital with news that Hearts appear to be knee deep in the sticky stuff.
Alarm bells were ringing earlier in the month when it was revealed that for yet another occassion, boss John McGlynn and several first team players were late in receiving their monthly salaries.
However the Tynecastle PR team were out in force, quickly dismissing any suggestions the club were on the brink of administration before announcing that they would be shortly revealing details of a plan which see them back on a level financial footing.
The cunning plan to raise much needed funds was to be through a shares issue, something initially welcomed by the club’s supporters, but that was to be short lived as news seeped through that HMRC were chasing after £1.75 million over unpaid liabilities.
Coming hard on the heels of the news of the share issue, the theory that Hearts are effectively going to ask that their loyal supporters dig deep into their pockets to bail out the club cannot be dismissed.
Indeed, in their own published share document Hearts claimed they aimed to raise around £1.79 million. Just a few hundred thousand more and they may have to cough up to the Revenue and Customs, so fears that this famous club are teetering on the brink cannot be brushed under the carpet.
They have already stated that should they lose their battle with the tax authorities then it “could have a dramatically negative effect on the company”.
The fact of the matter is that despite some of his barmy statements, major shareholder Vladimir Romanov has been keeping the club afloat in recent years and if he is to pull the plug on his continued investment, something he is apparently keen to do, then the future looks very bleak for fans of the Gorgie club.
As a result of the clubs struggles to keep the wolf at bay, the SPL have already implemented a blanket signing ban on them with former fans favourite Rudi Skacel accepting a short term contract with Dundee United despite spending some time training with his ex team mates.
So the question being asked now is – will the Hearts fans be prepared to fork out on shares to help keep their beloved club afloat. Or, like the majority of people struggling to make ends meet, face up to the cold reality that money is too tight and required to deal with continued high energy bills and not to be handed out to help bail out financially stricken football clubs, who just like the banks have got themselves into this mess.
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