Kris Boyd has launched a well thought out attack on Hearts after the Edinburgh side imposed a 50% wage cut on all staff starting next month.
There is barely a comment that can be argued with but the subject may come back to bite him as money runs out at Ibrox.
Ann Budge has decided to act on a shortfall of £1m, across the country at Ibrox there is a projected shortfall of £10m for this season that hasn’t been addressed in any way.
As you read the excerpt below from Boyd’s column a few names could be replaced at some time in April or May.
Where you see Hearts/Jambos replace it with ‘Rangers’, for Ann Budge switch to Dave King and when Liam Boyce is mentioned replace him with Jermain Defoe.
In The Sun Boyd writes:
Given their fairly recent administration, Hearts have an absolute cheek asking staff to take such a savage reduction in their wages.
This is a club who have had a financial meltdown within the last ten years and promised not to make the same mistakes again. Clearly lessons have not been learned. Instead of watching every penny they spend, they have once again spent well beyond their means.
The Jambos have offered too many bang average players ludicrous long-term contracts on crazy money. It is total insanity. Now, as they stand on the brink of relegation, the panic button has been pressed.
Coronavirus or not, it was only a matter of time before Hearts had the begging bowl out. The pandemic sweeping the globe has only served to bring forward their perilous plight by a couple of months.
When Hearts were busy splashing the cash, not once would it have entered the thinking of Ann Budge or Craig Levein to insert relegation clauses in any of the players’ contracts.
Coronavirus has exposed the total mismanagement of a club who now want players to suffer for their mistakes.
If I was an older player at Tynecastle, I’d clear out my locker and say, ‘See you later’. How can you stay and work with people you cannot trust?
What sums up the whole sorry situation at Hearts, for me, is the signing of Liam Boyce in January. They beat Aberdeen, who have been Scotland’s second force for most of the last decade, at the post for the striker’s signature during the last transfer window.
The Dons are not short of a few bob and are backed by a wealthy owner, but they were still blown out of the water by the Jambos. This had nothing to do with location. It was all about hard cash.
Aberdeen would have been like Hollywood compared to staying in the Highlands for the ex- Ross County hitman.
This was only a couple of months ago, when Hearts surely must have realised the dire state of their own finances. Yet they were still willing to make Boyce one of the highest-paid players in Scottish football outside the Old Firm.
That’s why I find it impossible to have any sympathy for the current mess which is all of their own making.
Watch this space, be careful who you condemn.