Hearts today delivered the news the majority of their supporters wanted to hear when they announced the club would be remaining at its spiritual home of Tynecastle and work would commence in the next few months on redeveloping the old ‘Main Stand’.
At the club’s AGM today, owner Ann Budge told shareholders that the club had completely outperformed its financial plan with turnover presently at over £7m.
Mrs Budge said “We are well ahead of our five year plan and our future looks good. We continue doing the right things and doing them well.
“We currently sit in third place in the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership and as we have said, our target is to be in the top six this season.
“We won the Championship at the first time of asking and by a very handsome margin, the team continues to perform well and we have added some real quality players to our squad.
“Financially, we completely out performed our financial plan and our turnover has risen from £5,098m to £7,077 and a half million pounds improvement on the bottom line and this does not include the donations from the Foundation of Hearts.
“Having lost £994,000 previously our losses are down to £415,000 in the past year and we are well on the way to breaking even or better this season, again, ahead of our schedule.”
Hearts have previously considered options regarding where the team should play with the old main stand at Tynecastle a major concern as it has long been considered not fit for purpose.
“In case anyone is still in doubt,” Mrs Budge continued, “the Board has decided that Hearts future is here at Tynecastle. I am very confident that by this time next year we will be well down the road in terms of developing our new Main Stand.
“The first step in making this possible is, of course, to enlarge our footprint. We need more space.
“We are well on the way to securing the land that will make that possible – some land has already been purchased – the remainder is in the final stages of discussion.
“We have outline plans/design/building schedules; we have the backing of all of the key players. Our objective is to put the Tynecastle area well and truly back on the map as an area of which all of Edinburgh can be proud.
“We will not be releasing any details until I am 100% sure all hurdles have been cleared but I expect to be able to unveil our plans within a couple of months.
“We are so proud of our new three year association with Save the Children and our introduction of the Living Wage at Tynecastle.
“Off the field we have very big plans for the coming months with the Main Stand at the forefront of those but next week we will open the stunning new Memorial Garden at Tynecastle and the club Museum is scheduled to open by the end of the season and the 1914 Memorial Trust bronze statue be unveiled in the spring. This season will also see the retail side of the Hearts come back into the club following a number of years as a franchise.
“In short we are very happy where we are and where we are going but we need our wonderful supporters to continue to support us in order to be able to achieve our targets.”
During the Vladimir Romanov era at Hearts the club’s AGMs and press conferences were sometimes of a pantomime nature. Thankfully, Ann Budge and her ambitious board of directors have restored dignity at Tynecastle. The future looks bright both on and off the field for a great club.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
