Jambos still in limbo

The financial health of Hearts FC appears little improved as the first-team squad may now have to wait on delayed wages for the fourth consecutive month.

Hearts, though, refute the SPL's claim that they did not pay their players as ordered on 16 January.

In a statement issued on 17 January, the club said: "The club has made payment of remuneration to each of the Players on 16th January 2012 and has documentary evidence to this effect."

Meanwhile, owner Vladimir Romanov remains uncertain on his own future with the club.

The cost-cutting measures of recent months have evidently made little progress towards a solving the problems at Tynecastle. Players have left and transfer fees have been received to little effect thus far, despite Romanov’s insistence that he will have made the Edinburgh club self-sufficient by the end of the current season.

Statements issued from the owner’s camp have only served to further muddy the water. After announcing in November his willingness to sell up and leave Hearts, he has more recently expressed a desire to remain at the helm on condition of various changes to the way Scottish football as a whole is administered.

Romanov has qualified this by welcoming any serious bids for the club, whilst professing plans for self-sufficiency and attempting to repair Hearts’ relationship with the media.

It remains to be seen whether the club will now face the SPL sanctions with which they were threatened after a players’ complaint concerning any further late payment of wages.