Broken Hearts: What does the latest financial casualty mean for Scottish football?

Motherwell FC. Dundee FC. Rangers FC. And now Heart of Midlothian FC. The image of Scots as being thrifty penny pinchers who are careful with their money has in recent years been tarnished, as club after club north of the border falls into the financial abyss.

On this occasion, the problem lies further east, Lithuania to be exact, as Vladimir Romanov, who swaggered into Edinburgh promising Champions League glory has dragged down one of Scottish football’s most famous institutions. Hearts have entered administration.

The news should come as no surprise. The Jam Tarts have been on the brink for some time now, with reports of players not receiving wages on time being the early sign that all was not well with the monetary side of the Tynecastle bank.

And as soon as UKIO Bankas, Romanov’s bank went bankrupt earlier this year, the writing was on the wall. When the club last week announced that every single player in the current squad was to be placed up for transfer, the game was over.

Just twelve months on from the fall from grace of Rangers, the demise of Hearts is yet another blow to the ever diminishing reputation of the Scottish game which seems to stumble from one crisis to another at an alarming rate, with no proper leadership to ease the concerns and fears of the game’s lifeblood: the fans.

Just like David Murray at Ibrox, Hearts and their supporters have become the victims of one man’s deluded desire to throw money into a project doomed for failure from the very start.

Put simply, there was never any realistic prospect of the Gorgie club ever attaining the status as a major power in the European game. Both Celtic and Rangers have found dining at the European top table to be a luxury they can ill afford.

Now the search is on for the club’s administrators KPMG to locate a buyer or else the jam tarts faithful will have to face the likelihood of liquidation.

And whilst Rangers have been able to, slowly (and not withstanding its challenges) get back on their feet, the prospect of Hearts being capable of surviving appear bleak, as they cannot rely on the incredible numbers of support that their Glasgow counterparts have had to keep them going.

The chickens are well and truly coming home to roost, as years of financial ineptitude have now taken their toll on the famous old club. At a time like this, one cannot fail but also align their downfall with that of another of the country’s biggest institutions – the Royal Bank of Scotland.

It is perhaps no coincidence to see a club with proud ties to the Scottish establishment crumbling apart. This is similar to Rangers, whose sugar daddy David Murray was a close friend of former Dumfermline chairman and former MD of the Bank of Scotland Gavin Masterton. The poor handling of the Fife club has seen the Pars fall down the divisions and stand on the brink of financial oblivion too.

Just like the banking crisis of 2008, Scottish football has been hemorrhaging, as the reality of a game being propped up by bad debts begins to hit home.

And as per usual it is the poor supporter who suffers, as the club they have followed since childhood becomes a laughing stock and an example of how not to run a football club in a professional, prudent manner.

There will undoubtedly be tears amongst the Scottish football fraternity at the demise of Hearts, tears of joy that is. Down Leith way and in other pubs and clubs of the length and breadth of the country, where fans of other sides gather who will be happy to see a club which was running beyond its means, crash and burn.

But as I have mentioned on countless occasions in the last twelve months, Scottish football can ill afford to lose one of our biggest clubs, particularly at a time when the game in our country faces an uncertain future, as sponsors and supporters continue to walk away in their droves.

Hearts are the latest casualty of financial failings but be prepared for the house of cards that will inevitably follow.

They are not the last ones…

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