Payday mayday at Hearts
The coughing and wheezing you hear from Tynecastle isn't, apparently, the patient in the throes of distress.
And for sure it's not the players' pay-packets which are choking with money.
It's just Vladimir Romanov clearing his throat to pronounce another fantastical declaration of intent.
It's a fact that alarm bells ring and warning lights trigger much earlier when you hear about a crack in the Heart of Midlothian enamel than they would at just about any other club in the land.
If they had any sense Lothian and Borders police would wrap some of that blue and white tape marked "accident waiting to happen" around the Gorgie Road.
Just when you thought it was safe to praise their return to the straight and narrow of football sanity, the Lithuanian sorcerer does it again.
The players were already aware that their wages were blowing in hyperspace, now the club's staff has been told that their monthly salaries are out there somewhere, although not actually in the safe haven of their accounts.
It was left to director Sergejus Fedotovas to fly in from Lithuania and attempt to spread peace and calm by claiming that an administrative coupon buster had put the money into the wrong account.
So that will be all right then. Except, aren't Hearts owned by a bank? In fact the very financial institution which arranges the wage packets?
And what can go wrong in any case? Ukio Bankas's profit rose 40% during the first eight months of this year - around $20m.
Mind you, some financial analysts insist that their credit risks have increased over the last year. You pays your money and you takes your choice...
Either way, Hearts are way down their owner's priority list.
In the short term maybe it will be all right. Probably, in fact.
But when you are employed by a company who are £36m in debt and who don't have a queue of sugar daddies queuing at the front door to woo them away from this madness, you could be excused for going into a cold sweat when you check your account at the local hole in the wall and find that you have been working for the square root of zilch.
It strikes me that Vladimir Romanov has grown weary of his Scottish plaything and is now very much the absentee landlord. Kaunus, I suspect, are the favourite toy in his cupboard now.
The debt must be increasing by the day.
They have a list of players like Makela and Beslija who are still being drip fed money - or possibly not if they are like others on the payroll - who have disappeared without trace.
Frankly, given the debt, they are un-buyable except by a Middle Eastern sheikh with a financial death wish.
How can a club spokesman rant about employees being "relaxed and happy with the situation" as their wages float about in a parallel universe?
If the BBC bodyswerved my pay day I'd have blokes in balaclavas and crowbars battering at the wages department door. "Relaxed and happy?" Who's the club spokesman, Pinocchio?
Csaba Laszlo looks like he might have some sort of idea how the game has been played and I applaud the club's return to the business end of the SPL from where they should never have drifted.
But the biggest threat to his progress may yet again come from within, just as it has done for three-and-a-half weary years.
"Tell them who you are and what you are about," they said. To be honest, there are days when I struggle to remember myself. Forty years toiling at the coalface of football journalism does that to you. But I have reason to believe that I have reached the heady heights of the title of Football Correspondent of BBC Scotland which gives me a renown, in Scottish terms, of somewhere between Alex Salmond and the deep fried Mars Bar.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~24~RS~)
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Good article about the troubles once again surrounding Hearts Chick, but why must you be so negative about the Scottish game? I'm a Motherwell fan and would have much preferred an article about our European tie with Nancy and our prospects of beating the French side at Fir Park next week. Although Celtic failed to overcome Aalborg in the Champions League last week the times are not as dark as you make them out to be for Scottish football! Just look at Hamilton's successful start to their SPL adventure - surely that's worth a mention and praise?
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Another fine article, theres never a dull moment where Hearts are involved. A team that when George Burley was in charge looked like a team that would overthrow the dominance of the old firm now look like descending possibly into the next Gretna!!!! i hope this doesnt happen as the SPL wouldnt be the same without them. i fear that given their financial insecurity the team may be picked to the bare bones with players such as Driver, Berra and Kingston going on to pastures new and Hearts will be a team of Kaunas loanees with not one name a Scot can pronounce!!!!
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Great article Chick. Shame the Hearts fans won't take it as well as the rest of us, but to be honest it's understandable. S-M got it correct though, the positives in the Scottish game are increasing, and quite rightly so. The football is become more attractive, and this is helping the results of the sides in Europe (barring my Bhoys drawing in our CL opener), which in turn increases the money going into the Scottish game and more spots in Europe. I must say I hope Motherwell can overturn the French, it would be fantastic achievement for Motherwell AND Scottish football.
Back to the Hearts situation, I think it's time the SFA/SPL interveened and took action, Romanov is a joke, always has been, he's turned Hearts into the Kaunas feeder club, and it makes Hearts look a joke (no offense intended!) and it in turn drags the Scottish game back to where it was not too long ago . . .
. . . years behind the rest !!!
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would this be the same three and a half weary years that we are the only team outside the ugly sisters to have won a decent trophy and the only team to have split the same ugly sisters in the league giving us a chance to get into champions league ( where we at least got one round further than rangers v kaunas or celtic v artmedia).
after watching hearts thru seventies, early eighties and early nineties give me weary years like these anytime.
PS. what have st mirren achieved in same period - not even a back page headline never mind a front. now thats weary!
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Afraid I don't agree with any of the above Chick.
It's very disappointing that a journalist who I do have a great deal of respect for seems to have based his entire article on the rantings of the Daily Ranger!
Not to mention that this is now a dead story with the situation having been totally resolved this evening according to BBC News reports!
But hey that doesn't make good press for the Glasgow media now does it? Can anyone see the Daily Ranger or it's equally illiterate competitor printing a back page headline tomorrow detailing that perhaps the club had been telling the truth after all?... Can't see it somehow.
It's the same old story I'm afraid. The club starts to do well and seems restored to its rightful place near the top of the SPL. We're again a threat to the Glasgow two and we can't have that can we?
I mean, anyone would have thought we'd managed to split the Old Firm a couple of seasons ago! We can't let that happen again!!
This as I said is now a dead story. As for the SPL taking action against Romanov! What the hell for?
He may not be to everyone's liking and I understand why the Glasgow press dislike him so much.
As for being a feeder club for Kaunas. What a load of absolute tripe! I can not think of a single player who has moved from Hearts to Kaunas that any sensibly minded Jambo would like to have back!!
Their top performer in the wonderful win over Rangers this season in the Champions League qualifier in the shape of the goalkeeper Kello has been arguably our best performer this year!
I rest my case. I trust the Glasgow media now does the same and that you revert back to writing pieces slightly better researched than the one above.
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Trouble is all the banking industry is in turmoil.
Who knows where it all end up just not on the park but in life generally.
Would break my heart if Hearts went bust (excuse the pun) but in the worst scenario am sure we would rise again.
See what happens Friday.
As for the record??? well
That is journalism at a real low.
Slainte
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As usual, the Daily Ranger makes up things out of thin air - "HEARTS stars have warned the club's owner Vladimir Romanov they could consider strike action...And they have said they will consider a dressing-room revolt", yet Chris Roberts could not support his "report" with any direct quotes from ANY player. Was it a slow news day again? The usual paparazzi parasites trying to make a story out of nothing, mountains out of molehills.
Surely this newspaper should be for sale in Waterstones next to all other fiction titles because it's certainly not factual news which graces its shoddy pages. No wonder Romanov is so paranoid, anything said or done at Tynecastle is blown out of all proportion by news hounds who's bark is always worse than their bite because when you look closer, you'll see they have no teeth - no substance to back up their claims. Unfortunately there are people out there who will believe anything they read and as long as this is the case, these reporters can continue to write whatever they want and people will lap it up and pay their wages. I despair.
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Captain Chic,
Star trek log 36 million: Lost in Hyperspace. No signs of life in this parallel universe blog either Chic. The engines won't take it, so beak out the triLithuanian crystals. Phasers on stun. At least you have replaced metaphor with hyperbole. A Banker and no mistake. Do you think Alexi Salmon will step in and offer to underwrite the Hearts wage bill in return for some guarantee of footballing activity? Now that would give you something to write about instead of the "toe poke the round thing into the onion bag" type of post-modernistic essay -very last year indeed. But it is hard to tell a Romulan from a Klingon in these troubled "would you credit it?" times. Ah, now I get it. Fitba' Journalists are like the Borg. Gotcha, Cyberman. Beam me up Scotty.
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#8 garchbo
Maybe they should give it free with the big issue
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The coughing and wheezing you hear from Tynecastle isn't, apparently, the [patient in the throes of distress].
And for sure it's not the players' pay-packets which are [choking with money].
It's just Vladimir Romanov [clearing his throat] to pronounce another fantastical [declaration of intent].
[It's a fact] that [alarm bells ring] and [warning lights trigger] much earlier when you hear about a [crack in the Heart of Midlothian enamel] than they would at just about any other [club in the land.]
If they had any sense Lothian and Borders police would wrap some of that blue and white tape marked ["accident waiting to happen"] around the Gorgie Road.
[Just when you thought it was safe] to praise their return to the [straight and narrow] of [football sanity], the Lithuanian sorcerer does it again.
The players were already aware that their wages were [blowing in hyperspace], now the club's staff has been told that their monthly salaries are [out there somewhere], although not actually in the [safe haven] of their accounts.
It was left to director Sergejus Fedotovas to fly in from Lithuania and attempt to [spread peace] and calm by claiming that an administrative [coupon buster] had put the money into the wrong account.
So that will be all right then. Except, aren't Hearts owned by a bank? {In fact the very financial institution which arranges the wage packets?} (not a sentence)
And [what can go wrong] in any case? Ukio Bankas's profit rose 40% during the first eight months of this year - around $20m.
Mind you, some financial analysts insist that their credit risks have increased over the last year. You pays your money and you takes your choice...
Either way, Hearts are way down their owner's [priority list].
[In the short term] maybe it will be all right. Probably, in fact.
But when you are employed by a company who are £36m in debt and who don't have a queue of [sugar daddies] queuing at the front door to woo them away from this madness, you could be excused for going into a cold sweat when you [check your account] at the local [hole in the wall] and find that you have been working for the [square root of zilch].
[It strikes me] that Vladimir Romanov has [grown weary] of his Scottish plaything and is now very much the [absentee landlord]. Kaunus, I suspect, are the [favourite toy in his cupboard now].
The debt must be [increasing by the day].
They have a list of players like Makela and Beslija who are still [being drip fed] money - or possibly not if they are like others [on the payroll] - who have [disappeared without trace].
Frankly, given the debt, they are un-buyable except by a Middle Eastern sheikh with a financial [death wish].
How can a club spokesman rant about employees being "relaxed and happy with the situation" as their wages [float about in a parallel universe]?
If the BBC [bodyswerved my pay day] I'd have [blokes in balaclavas and crowbars battering at the wages department door]. "Relaxed and happy?" Who's the club spokesman, Pinocchio?
Csaba Laszlo looks like he might have some sort of idea how the game has been played and I applaud the club's [return to the business end] of the SPL from where they should never have drifted.
But the [biggest threat to his progress] may yet again come from within, just as it has done for three-and-a-half weary years.
[cliche] - shameful lazy journalism
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Chick. Having read some of your previous efforts, I had been tempted to write in and say that this should be renamed ?Chick Young?s Log?, or ?Chick Young?s hastily-compiled musings on the Bog? as they were nothing more than a steaming pile that surely emanated from the back end, not the gub. However, todays piece is actually pretty good - clearly the extra two days working on it have paid off!!
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I read this blog now and again and it seems to get as many messages about journalism quality, cliches, irrelevance etc., as it does about the content, but surely this is a waste of time. I dont always agree with the angle of the thread but its a blog, its not meant to be a thesis. If its crap its crap, if its a veritable shower of quality literature, great - but who cares.
The world and the internet in particular now revolves around abreviated language where traditional grammer standards are largely an irrelavance. Internet/popular newspaper journalism is no better than a person with average language skills but thats where the world is and i for one like breaking away from staid values of keeping things "as they should be".
As for Hearts well - its not run properly is it - no cliches needed but funny/sad all the same.
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Chick, honest, do they pay you? You'll be telling us next that Jim Traynor gets paid!
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It is late I must be tired, because the comments above do not relate to what I thought I read in this blog.
I will come back to you all tomorrow and in the meantime it would seem that the so called diddy Cup has in fact produced some cracking cup-ties, some great goals and a very strong next round.
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my god chick.........you know blokes in balaclavas? even worse they have crowbars........with republicans retired now i may think you have the backing of loyalists.....beware BBC.
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I think Chics blogs are possibly taking the michael. I hope so, no proper journalist would write such cliched and hackneyed nonsense. The really sad thing is that Scottish football fans are served up this drivel on the BBC. Chic, look at the other blogs about other sports written on this site, almost all offer considered opinion, intelligent analysis and can be genuinely insightful. Is it to much to ask for something similar about Scottish football.
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Chick, for someone who can't write, you're doing a marvellous job conning cash out of the BBC. Respect.
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No to be fair that was a good blog.
Summing up...
Vlad may be Mad, at least in the media that seems like a jolly wheeze and they have not paid the staff or players which could mean that Vlad is losing interest.
Except that they are getting paid but wait maybe the bank might go bust and they are the holding company except they made a huge amount of money, but that might not last either. Who knows.
Now the new manger seems to pick the team and motivate the players and identify targets and has taken Hearts to third and the team is showing early signs of form so lets gloss over that.
You would never buy Hearts unless you were a billionare. Much like Newcastle, Man City, West Ham.....etc etc. In fact every club going.
Thanks for the insight Chick. Keep up the good work.
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#15 you are right to an extent. But would it not be nice to have something worthwhile to strech our minds and engage in a bit of debate rather than this drivel.
I dont want to go on my clubs fan boards and listen to the same old **** about who is worse than whom, I wnat a simple, well researched and thought article with which I can engage the author and other bloggers.
This is not just a fun piece - this is his job, Football Correspondent of BBC Scotland no less, and we are paying lest you forget.
I have said it before but the farce here is his fellow commentators / pundits can barely hide their contempt and no can the majority of bloggers here.
Compare the standard of this to the rest of BBC Scotlands outstanding work.
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#22, norriemaclean, you are spot on. Yes, this is, for the first time in a while, a blog that raises an interesting issue. But it's still terribly written and spends more time indulging in silly cliches than discussing the topic.
The man has an important job (paid by his readers) and he ought to be able to deliver.
Surely the BBC can find a literate football pundit?
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Chick Young and his cronies.......the cancer of Scottish Football and Sir David's lap dogs.
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More great journalism Chick. Yes the players never got paid in time, but this was resolved within a few working days. The rest of your ?article? has been cut and pasted from many of your previous ?articles?. ?Huge wages?, ?huge debt?, ?hundreds of players? ?.all of which have been drastically reduced over the past 12 months.
Reference to Beslija and Makela, great work! Both these players were out on loan for most of last season and the latter played in the first couple of games this season!
Do you honestly believe that Hearts are on much shakier ground being owned by a European bank than a club owned by men whose fortunes are in the Scottish housing or construction market??
Do us all a favour and try write something positive and preferably original. See you next time you visit Tynecastle, presumably when one of the Old Firm come to town.
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Big improvement Chick, just cut the pointless metaphors which serve only to bump up your word-count and make your writing less coherent and unpleasant to read. Half a gold star!
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A vast improvement on your last one, chick (let's face it, anything would have been better than that aimless ramble), but it still says a lot that the responses are still all about the quality of your writing.
Seriously, Read Tim Vickery's blog. The reader responses are all to do with points raised by the writer (who, by the way, is excellent), not about how poor his writing is.
I'm sure there's a decent story in your blog somewhere, but it's buried under laboured metaphors and preposterously constructed sentences that, as another poster pointed out, just appear to be there to fill out the article ("Right, I've written my 2000 words - where's my cheque?')
The BBC writer blogs are needed, because if you write anything under the team message boards, it soon degenrates into the usual 'You're Scotland's shame' - 'No. YOU are Scotland's shame.' That's why these blogs are needed (Please take note all those who respond 'You don't have read it').
So, for the sake of all of us who care about Scottish football, and want some intelligent reading, please pull out the stops to give us what we want. Either that, or do a job swap with Tim Vickery. Not sure he'd fancy 'giving up Rio for Renfrew' (you can have that one for free, Chick), though.
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£36 million in debt? Chick, you really should do some investigative journalism before posting, or at least point out that was an outdated figure from the last accounts, rather that trying to give the impression this is the current situation.
If you had, you would have known that earlier this year there was a debt for shares issue to UBIG which cut the debt by a huge £12 million.
And if you had done your homework properly you would also know that the £36m figure from the last accounts does not include some very large transfer fees such as the £9m for Craig Gordon or £2m+ for Roman Bednar.
As usual, must try harder.
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In case you can't be bothered to read all of chick's blog here is the summary.
Hearts staff are still waiting on their wages and I think the club is on the brink of going under. Scottish football is crap.
Why don't the BBC get another blogger on Scottish football. I am sick of the doom and gloom dressed up in metaphor and tabloid rhetoric offered by chick. I am not saying chick should get the bump but just an alterative point of view would be nice.
Scottish football is on the up in my opinion - at least in terms of quality. More teams are now trying to get the ball down and play a passing game than years ago and the days of teams spending above their means (perhaps with Hearts aside) have thankfully disappeared.
Come on BBC. Even the tea boy could offer a decent alternative.
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Having read through the majority of posts it's soon apparent that a theme has developed. This is not a new theme - I've been referring to Sportsound for the last couple of years as Chick-baiting.
As an Aberdeen fan I usually give Richard Gordon the benefit of the doubt in his analysis but one aspect of his presentation really grates. This usually takes the form of some scoffing at Chick's hastily thought out report. McLeod likes a wee dig as well. The contempt is genuine and not some engineered "chemistry" decided on by a producer either.
Here's a point - as much as I agree that the standard of Chick's journalism is sometimes below-par - should it not be the producer who takes the bold move of removing Chick from this professional bullying? Does the Sports' website boss have no editorial control?
Although some of the posts on this blog provide thoughtful opinions on the matter at hand, most just appear to be picking on the wee man - and that's not something to be proud of.
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As a committed Hearts fan, I am concerned about any situation at my club that I feel will put either its existence or success at jeopardy, and I must admit that at times, Romanov has not been as 'committed' or even as careful as many Hearts fans would have wished for.
However, as erratic as Romanov appears to be, the success the club have achieved on the pitch under his reign cannot be argued with. After 1998, I was convinced that I would have to wait another 50 years to see silverware at Tynecastle again. As for the Champions League, I distinctly remember many Scottish based journalists questioning the credentials of Hearts to reach such heights. As of yet, we all know that no other club outside the Old Firm has reached that plateau yet.
Scottish media outlets based in the West appear to have a bias against clubs that attempt to challenge the Old Firm in any way. What is to say that the Old Firm are any better than Hearts, Hibs or Dundee United? Indeed, isn't it true to say that Hibs have produced some (if not most) of the best Scottish talent in recent years? As for the debt, it does concern me but the debt at Rangers is not exactly comfortable and Celtic have not always had an easy ride with debt.
This is not to say that Hearts do not have problems, it is clear that they do, however, these are problems that can be sorted and it would be nice if Scottish journalists appreciated the good quality of football that our leagues (and national team) are now producing instead of consistently concentrating on off the field issues so as to sell more papers or fill their slots on news bulletins.
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Nice article Chic, I'm not a Jambo but I am concerned about their current plight. I don't think the wages crisis/mix-up will carry on but I agree Romanov has taken his eye off the ball. Vlad has finally realised he has little or no chance of breaking the Old Firm's stranglehold on the SPL. Low expectations lead to lowered ambitions and less ambitious signings.
One day a multi-millionaire/billionaire could buy a team to win the SPL but Romanov is not the man.Why? Because Edinburgh is not a football city ....sorry but its true. By attendance Hearts/Hibs are mediocre teams in a British context.
It would require huge investment of the level of Roman Abramovich to bankroll the purchase of players that the money from the turnstiles will never pay for.Is Bill Gates a Jambo?
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It would be interesting if the BBC gave some of these article critics the responsibilty of penning an article for the website!
They all appear to think that they could do much better, well get on with it then!
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Dusty (38). Ask any man in the street about any subject and they'll give you an opinion, maybe not one that?s repeatable before the watershed, but it'll be free. But Chick proudly boasts that he is Football Correspondent of BBC Scotland- note the capital letters; i.e. he is not just any guy with an interest in Scottish football, he is supposedly in a position where his words should command respect, be informative, thought provoking, wahtever, whether you disagree with them or not. He isn't doing this for the good of his health - I'd actually be interested to learn how much he?s getting paid for doing this (maybe a Freedom of Information request to the Beeb would uncover just how much his pearls of wisdom are costing the licence-fee payer). But his past blogs are garbage and its not a case that anyone criticising him could do any better, its more that's its unlikely that any of them could do any worse!!!.
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No37
I take any expression of concern about Hearts from "outsiders" with a pinch of salt. Primarily because there only concern is for the survival of their own club's fortunes. Furthermore, I treat the comments of media pundits and Chick Young in particular, with even more scepticism.
However, I do agree with the view that the Old Firm (OF) will never be challenged. Not because the will and enthusiasm is not there, it certainly is. But I believe it will not be done by one club alone. It needs at least two or three other SPL clubs taking points of the OF on a regular basis.
The status quo is a requirement of the sponsors and the vested interest that is the OF. The poor quality of officials that take almost a £1,000 a week in fees without the need to be accountable for the dubious decision making that is evdident at football grounds every week.
Vladimir Romanov inherited almost £22M of debt from the previous incumbent. Last year that grew to £36M, but with Mr Romanov injecting £12M into the clubs coffers in July coupled with £12M in transfers fees, Chick Young's view of the debt at Tynecsatle is therefore somewhat out of date.
Sensational journalism amd the need for a headline will never allow the truth to get in the way of a "good story" !
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This article is the sort of ill-informed non-sense that should only be seen in red top newspapers. Should the BBC not be reporting facts. Should a journalist with an ounce of integrity not do some research before writing an article?
HEARTS ARE NOT OWNED BY A BANK - FACT
Hearts are owned by UBIG. A quick google search reveals - "UAB Ukio banko investicine grupe (UBIG) is a management company of diversified holdings which operates in the property development, banking, aluminium, mining, logistics, textiles, sports, financial intermediary and other sectors." That sounds like a diverse company to me and not one that purely makes money from banking. Further research reveals UKIO (the banking part of the group) have a better Asset to Liability ration than RBS or HBOS so they are perhaps in better shape than Chick would lead us to believe.
Hearts are not £36M in debt. They may well have been when the last set of accounts were published but since then, £12M of the debt has been swapped for equity and £11M has been recouped in transfer fees - This is pretty much common knowledge but again no research done there. Now I'm not saying that Hearts will have broken even since the last set of accounts but I'm 100% certain it'll be a lot closer to the £20M mark than £36M.
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You're right. The thing that worries me is that generalised fantasy football as practised in ENGLAND: Liverpool wth thon rasor boy in particular, Man City with the sheikh, and what will happen to Chelsea when Romanov gets bored?
Hearts have been playing fantasy football for a few years now, without developing a business model anything like Arsenal or Man United; where the fans still count.
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Itsmasel, Chelsea will be fine when Romanov gets bored. Now if Abramovich got bored it may be different. That said you're spot on about the English playground.
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I enjoy your comments Chick. Usually very funny. This one surprised me though. Hearts are Scotland's first Lithuanian club and so far in debt they could end up playing in Austrialia, but it's old news. The hot stuff this week is Motherwell's chances of saving Scotland's blushes in Europe after last years gigantic effort from the Dons and Rankers; or, a story about the chances of Jimmy Calderwood losing 100lbs versus him developing any sense of what a tactic means and what positions players should and should not be played in. Now that's a story - plus he's a bluenose and the glesga readers would lap it up.
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What a load of rubbish ! How do you get away with writing complete drivel. What planet are you on.
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Any excuse to have a pop at Hearts Chicken. It's actually getting a bit boring.
Surely there must be more important things to report on in Scottish Football than a technical hitch in players wages at Hearts.
At least Hearts are doing something to try and end the Old Firms unhealthy dominance of Scottish Football.
Maybe that is what really bothers you. I'd bet you'd swap Hearts situation with your own joke club in a second.
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Football has become one big financial institution. Talent is replaced by cheque books. The game is now governed by the world financial markets and all the risks that are currently being negotiated by them as a result.
As a fan of a club that has suffered from underinvestment (in relative terms) for years and is owned by a leading figure in the building industry (yes its Aberdeen) I am also worried of a colapse or "demolition" at my club, loose change may fall out of the Pittodrie piggie bank as a result.
Hearts on the other hand have been on a roller coaster for years now, the peaks and troughs they have travelled are just larger than the rest of us.
Perhaps some common sense will prevail and we can get back to the days when talent and sound management were the mark of winners rather than the size of the owners bank balance and love for the club. However the current issues ongoing at West Ham may dictate otherwise.
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A strange article which says more about the writer than the subject. After all is it condidered normal when your salary is late, to send men with balaclavas and crowbars battering at the wages department door.
Sounds more like the action of a criminal gang than a reaction to late wages.
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Dear BBC
Please improve on the quality of journalism that currently surrounds Scotland and in particular Scottish Football. Journalists such as Chick Young and Jim Trainer are potential hazards and are reducing our sport to regular slagging matches, personal jibes which frankly is very wearing indeed.
It is cheap, not entertaining, non informative, not an ounce of educated comment. Im afraid that I and many other dispair when I switch on the radio and all I can hear is JT and CY slagging each other. I dont give a monkeys what their opinion is off each other, I want to know about the game not gossip and titletattle, leave that to real radio please!! or Hello magazine.
Richard Gordon Murdo etc. are great but JT and CY...........?????
To be more specific to Cy recent article; I find it rediculous that as soon as there is a mere wiff of something going on tynecastle that CY can be allowed by his editor (if he is editable) to post such utterly exaggerated nonsense and completely avoid a balanced view point.
And another thing...Same old George Burley stuff, is that the same George Burley that those Journos were wanting to hang due to his first bad result?
Why oh why has CY not been sacked? is there no other up and coming intelligent pundits wnatinbg to take his place?
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For a critical but well researched article on the Hearts situation please read the one in todays guardian.
Don't waste your time with half truths and bitterness when you can read facts.
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Once again, tired cliches and metaphors are wheeled out to pad out an article which only actually tells the reader one thing: the profits of a Lithuanian bank.
Read Gavin Strachan's BBC blog, it's much more informative and refreshingly down-to-earth and well written considering it's from a footballer.
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My Dear Chic,
This article shows you up for the petty individual you really are. It is clear the Glaswegian Mafia Press do not like someone from another country challenging the David Murray Lap-dogs and the current status quo. Mr Romanov tells it as it is with a fresh pair of eyes but to upset this would upset your existence so you choose to attack his club at every given opportunity.
This article is no more than conjecture and is completely inaccurate. The club's debt now sits at circa £15m and not the £36m you claim, as reported by the quality newspapers today. One acutally reported it at £13m but you choose to inflict your bitter one-sided rantings on the rest of us.
You have no evidence that Romanov has lost interest in Hearts. You have no evidence that his business empire is in trouble, infact published accounts suggest quite the opposite.
You may brainwash the empty-heads from your side of the country but believe me, anyone with half a brain can look beyond your articles and those from the tabloids with their obvious agenda. You and your cronies are obviously trying to sway public opinion to oust Mr Romanov but unlike creating a run on bank or a politician you will never sway supporters like myself - instead you unite us behind Mr Romanov.
You're article sums you up - bitter, ill-informed and completely outdated.
Feel free to email me if you can string a coherent sentence together.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
What an embarassment both the blog is, and the majority of comments hailing this as a fantastic piece of journalism! It truly is incredible!
For one, the debt figures are vastly inaccurate, failing to mention the debt for equity scheme or player sales.
Secondly, Hearts are not owned by Ukio Bankas, but by Ubig, an investment group which has interests outwith banking. Ukio only accounts for 13% of Ubig's interests.
Bearing in mind the whole blog is pinned on these two 'facts' it makes me cringe that an article can be so blatantly incompetent, irrational, ill - informed and downright ignorant. It makes me think that I am being robbed, with so called journos like Chick Young being paid from my wages in the form of my BBC licence fee!
I am not sure about men in balaclavas, but clearly it wont be long before the men in white coats are knocking on Chick's door!
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I'm amazed that Chic didn't think of at least one possible reason for the the "technical hitch". Ukio Bankas don't pay the wages directly to the players (no branch in UK) so they pay it into an HBOS account from where it goes to the players.
You may have noticed HBOS was having a wee problem at the very moment Romanov should have been transferring the money (it really was the same day). It probably made a lot of sense to hang back to see what happened. Only the first £35,000 is protected and Hearts' wage bill is a lot bigger than that.
Can't you think of two things at the same time?
P.S. While you're slagging off all the Lithuanian imports, try naming one you wouldn't just love to have playing for St Mirren. Better than anything you've got.
Chickus Youngiasticus?
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Many of the posters that appear (ad nauseum!) seem to want only one thing. For goodness sake people - it's a blog!! It's entertaining, it's written not for acid dissection of the Scottish game, but as a sideline - hence blog!
It is also very strange to see this same band of pedants banging on about journalistic quality, when it would appear that many of them cannot string a coherent sentence together themselves.
Leave Chic alone - if you don't like it, by all means don't read it, but don't spoil it for the people here who do enjoy reading it. If you don't think that the majority is written with tongue firmly in cheek, then you have had a bigger sense of humour bypass than I initially thought!
Keep up the blogs Chic - some of us DO appreciate them!
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"So that will be all right then. Except, aren't Hearts owned by a bank? In fact the very financial institution which arranges the wage packets?"
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In fact? No totally wrong! Hearts aren't owned by a Bank.
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"But when you are employed by a company who are £36m in debt"
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£36mil in debt? wrong again!!
lazy journalism of he highest order, the inaccurate tripe in this blog is ridiculous and highlights the contempt that CY has for Vlad, the club and its supporters.
Get your facts sorted out you silly little moonbeam puppet!!!!
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Blimey. Are people serious? Chic, please ignore all these ridiculous comments about your writing style/quality. I'm not your biggest fan but I enjoy your blog and I think the website would be poorer without it. Would we really rather read "analysis" from Mr Traynor's miserable inner realms???
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Donstim (#58),
The problem with this blog is that we do have to read it because there's no alternative blog.
As I mentioned earlier, it's difficult to start a discussion on the team message boards because the chances are that it'll degenerate into some point scoring contest on who has the worst fans. We need a focal point to discuss the issues that are affecting Scottish football. Seriously, read Tim Vickery's blog, or Phil McNulty's, and then try and defend Mr Young's. There's no comparison.
It's ill-thought out, ill-researched nonsense that says absolutely nothing at all. Read the previous one and tell me that there's anything of merit in there. It's like listening to the guy on the bus(you know the sort I mean) who names everything that he can see out the window, without actually expanding on any of it. You say it's tongue in cheek, but I don't see anything that could be considered witty - there's plenty that I'm sure Chick (and possibly yourself) would consider clever wordplay, but shoehorned into the article in such a way that it's clumsy and overblown.
Maybe it's just because I live in the South East of England now, but I would be embarrassed to show that to my friends as an example of Scottish Football writing. All it would do would be to re-inforce their perception of Scottish football being self-important with the focus on petty details, instead of what matters.
Chick could have commented on any number of matters last week (example: The sort of football that lead to McCann's goal for Falkirk being a possible blue-print for the sort of possession football that George Burley should aim for with the national side), but instead went for the easy ' How much of a circus are Hearts,eh?' despite the facts not bearing out the story.
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#61 says it perfectly. I also live out of Scotland and enjoy the BBC's otherwise excellent coverage of UK football. But I'd like some worthwhile Scottish equivalent to the McNulty/Vickery stuff. Even Robbo, which is DELIBERATELY written to sound like the typical blethering eejit in the pub is leagues ahead of our own CY!
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Throbbinrobin, spot on. I saee you have also been reading Gavin strachans blog which I would like to suggest other readers of the trip dished up here have a look at. Only a personal opinion but it is a refreshing read.
Regards to all.
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3. Its not a great article its rubbish! I dont know why chick has decided to write a blog about the payday mess up. They only missed a weeks wages. Grow up Chick. Im apolled the way rangers got thier way into UEFA cup final. Anti football. We have had an ok season third place to us and maybe next season we can get second from rangers. But as usall someone has to escalate the hearts situation.
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