At least 10 office staff members "have been made redundant" at Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian as administrators begin a series of cuts aimed at "saving the stricken Tynecastle club," according to the BBC. There is "not likely to be a decision made on players leaving until Friday." Accounting firm BDO has "taken over the running of the Edinburgh outfit." Scottish Second Division Dunfermline administrator Bryan Jackson said, "Job losses are inevitable. We need to cut costs quickly." Trevor Birch, who will be working with Jackson, said that cuts could be "brutal," while details are expected to be announced at a 5pm local time media conference (BBC, 6/20). The Scotland DAILY RECORD reported Jackson, "who has performed similar roles at Clydebank, Motherwell Clyde, Dundee and Portsmouth," said that the situation at Tynecastle was "as bad as any that I've come across." He conceded that liquidation was "always a possibility." Jackson: "The biggest problem is the present cashflow, keeping the doors open. Obviously there will be redundancies and that's a nightmare situation for those people" (DAILY RECORD, 6/20).
WEIR LAMENTS SITUATION: In London, Phil Gordon reported former Hearts player David Weir "admits that he is not an expert on finance" but recognizes that Heart of Midlothian lost its way "when those on the payroll started to count for more than those in the stands." The big numbers that Weir remembers "are the 200,000 people who went on to the streets of Edinburgh to watch Hearts parade the Scottish Cup" in '98. By the time Weir returned to Scotland nine years later, his old club was "the talk of the game because of the huge wages being offered by Vladimir Romanov, the now-bankrupt owner." Weir said, "It is sad what has happened to Hearts. That day [the '98 Scottish Cup final] was one of my best memories. Hearts had not won a major trophy for 36 years. To beat Rangers in front of 50,000 fans at Celtic Park was a great experience" (LONDON TIMES, 6/20).
