“Without the support of the fans there is, as we issue this note, a real risk that Heart of Midlothian Football Club could possibly play its last game next Saturday, 17 November 2012. This isn’t a bluff, this isn’t scaremongering, this is a reality.”
I remember being on the bus going home from work when I read this grave statement. The football club in Edinburgh, Scotland, that I had supported since childhood had been served a winding-up order by HMRC, and without sufficient financial backing from supporters, faced the devastating prospect of playing its last ever game ten days later.
Years of gross financial mismanagement, coupled with the increasing apathy of the club’s controversial Russian owner Vladimir Romanov – who was hailed a saviour when his 2005 takeover prevented the sale of the club’s spiritual home Tynecastle Park but whose tenure ended in debts of around £30m – had finally taken their toll. Now, the club needed its supporters more than ever.
