The generic Hearts thread

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kato

Are you not slightly curious as to the anonymity donations, though? A club with a history of avoiding debts and money laundering has millions of pounds being ploughed through it with no discernable sign the money being spent sensibly. When theres a pattern like that people should be asking questions.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

---

I totally agree with this.

Anything that's more than a 4 figure sum (ie £10k and above) should not be allowed to run as "anonymous donor" in the books.

And let's be real here, Hearts anonymous benefactors aren't ploughing in four figure sums.

They're not ploughing in five figure sums.

They're not even ploughing in six figure sums.

They've been ploughing in SEVEN figure sums.

Forget being under £10k - these donations are over 10 PER CENT of Hearts turnover, washed through the laundry as "anonymous donation"

That's a stituation that's definitely worth a look under the bonnet, I would say - especially after the Romanov/Mercer years

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Springbank

I totally agree with this.

Anything that's more than a 4 figure sum (ie £10k and above) should not be allowed to run as "anonymous donor" in the books.

And let's be real here, Hearts anonymous benefactors aren't ploughing in four figure sums.

They're not ploughing in five figure sums.

They're not even ploughing in six figure sums.

They've been ploughing in SEVEN figure sums.

Forget being under £10k - these donations are over 10 PER CENT of Hearts turnover, washed through the laundry as "anonymous donation"

That's a stituation that's definitely worth a look under the bonnet, I would say - especially after the Romanov/Mercer years

---

But this is well known and clearly allowed by the Authorities so maybe other. Luna need to finding thier own Anon Benefactors
It seems to work for them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FilipinoHibs

There is a reason why the donations are anonymous. Hearts don't want you know who they are from and the donator does not want to be known. Only one person has publicly come up with money since Hearts went into admin. If the doctors were anybody else but her they would have come forward when Hearts were in admin. Why if they had four times the money to give away that saved Hearts would they watch Hearts fans take out a loan at 6% interest? Why watch when another £2 million is made. If they were business people they would have taken the club over, provided some working capital and appointed real business people to run the club with a business plan they signed off on and reviewed regularly. Nobody pisses £9 million up the wall with no control.

Quite possible to route the money through special purpose vehicles to disguise the source.

Interesting Budge's net worth estimated by Forbes at £16 million in 2019. She received £28 million for her IT company.

---

Once again you are wrong, the anonymous backer(s) are not Ann Budge. Another inaccuracy in your above post, the largest individual anonymous donation is nowhere close to £9m.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CapitalGreen

Once again you are wrong, the anonymous backer(s) are not Ann Budge. Another inaccuracy in your above post, the largest individual anonymous donation is nowhere close to £9m.

---

Total donations are £9 million. Happy to be proved wrong but you need to provide some evidence. You seem to know the make up of all the donations. Why don't you give us some evidence even in general sketchy terms. You are beginning to sound like John Swinney. He always says rubbish when presented with a logical argument but counters with no facts to explain why it is rubbish. I have asked you before but you have never come up with anything

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FilipinoHibs

There is a reason why the donations are anonymous. Hearts don't want you know who they are from and the donator does not want to be known. Only one person has publicly come up with money since Hearts went into admin. If the doctors were anybody else but her they would have come forward when Hearts were in admin. Why if they had four times the money to give away that saved Hearts would they watch Hearts fans take out a loan at 6% interest? Why watch when another £2 million is made. If they were business people they would have taken the club over, provided some working capital and appointed real business people to run the club with a business plan they signed off on and reviewed regularly. Nobody pisses £9 million up the wall with no control.

Quite possible to route the money through special purpose vehicles to disguise the source.

Interesting Budge's net worth estimated by Forbes at £16 million in 2019. She received £28 million for her IT company.

---

Her IT company was Newell and Budge. She was not sole owner. Sold off to SOPRA for a tidy sum but she didnt get the full 26m....afaik it was much less.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sudds_1

Her IT company was Newell and Budge. She was not sole owner. Sold off to SOPRA for a tidy sum but she didnt get the full 26m....afaik it was much less.

---

Probably pulled a considerable salary/profit for several years to

[QUOTE=FilipinoHibs;6073356]Probably pulled a considerable salary/profit for several years to[/QUOTEher
No doubt about that. She didnt have an IT bone in her body..her partner was the brains in that dept. But she was the business brain..did quite well across scotland in la and gov type contracts....hence SOPRAS eventual interest.

Hearts' finances are fascinating for a number of reasons.

Firstly there are the mysterious benefactors. They have committed large sums of money by anybody's standards with (apparently) little more return than the opportunity to watch their team without wearing a tie from the comfort of the (ahem!) Directors' Box.

Having said that, the behaviour of these particularly well-heeled Jambos merely mirrors that of their less well-to-do brethren who are happy to curtail the bairn's Christmas or cancel the family holiday in order to chuck ludicrous sums at the Foundation of Hearts.

There are further fascinations in their finances. To the neutral observer, the single-tiered, still unfinished stand doesn't look like a £22 million construction project. Even allowing for gross incompetence, it's hard to see where the money went.

Then there's the cost of running a bloated first-team squad and a top-heavy staffing structure, yet still being able to pull off six-figure signings with a reported £300,000 annual salary during the January transfer window.

Under normal circumstances, you'd expect this type of profligacy to end in tears but to Hearts, insolvency is a mere historical hiccup before returning to the tried and tested formula of free-spending financial doping.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kato

Fair play to their fans. Are you not slightly curious as to the anonymity donations, though? A club with a history of avoiding debts and money laundering has millions of pounds being ploughed through it with no discernable sign the money being spent sensibly. When theres a pattern like that people should be asking questions.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

---

They've maybe not been a happy bunch this season but it's amazing how quickly they got over their toil and trouble to get on board with the Stendel revolution.

I can't believe they aren't more pissed off about their ability to piss money away. I'm a stakeholder at Hibs to the extent of being supporter and season ticket holder and I get annoyed when we waste money on careless signings or failed managerial appointments. The fact that they plough in as much of their hard earned as they do whilst tolerating the profligate waste of so much of that money astounds me.

It's almost as if they've never had the jolt that nearly losing your club brings to get you to pay a bit more attention to your own club's mortality.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Smartie

They've maybe not been a happy bunch this season but it's amazing how quickly they got over their toil and trouble to get on board with the Stendel revolution.

I can't believe they aren't more pissed off about their ability to piss money away. I'm a stakeholder at Hibs to the extent of being supporter and season ticket holder and I get annoyed when we waste money on careless signings or failed managerial appointments. The fact that they plough in as much of their hard earned as they do whilst tolerating the profligate waste of so much of that money astounds me.

It's almost as if they've never had the jolt that nearly losing your club brings to get you to pay a bit more attention to your own club's mortality.

---

To be fair they were very vocal laterally about wanting rid of Levine as Manager
Some probably wanted him no where near the Club So with Budge due to step aside , it will be interesting how they resolve issues like this
However I think the fact they have been working to a Fans takeover has helped them keep on board the people who originally paid monthly amounts to help save the Club



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kato

Fair play to their fans. Are you not slightly curious as to the anonymity donations, though? A club with a history of avoiding debts and money laundering has millions of pounds being ploughed through it with no discernable sign the money being spent sensibly. When theres a pattern like that people should be asking questions.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

---

If I recall correctly their accountants are compiled by an internationally renowned company so the guys doing the them aren't going to risk jail time or company reputation for a crappy wee football club!

Of course everyone in football is slightly curious but so long as the accountants sign off the accounts without so much as a sniff of qualification then curious is what we will remain.

As for them wasting money, long may it continue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kato

Fair play to their fans. Are you not slightly curious as to the anonymity donations, though? A club with a history of avoiding debts and money laundering has millions of pounds being ploughed through it with no discernable sign the money being spent sensibly. When theres a pattern like that people should be asking questions.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

---

I would've thought at the very least the SFA would be asking questions but then again, the Jambos 'financial situation' is a mere drop compared to their big-bros over in Govan and not an eyebrow is raised and their history makes the jambos almost look honest by comparison !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jack

If I recall correctly their accountants are compiled by an internationally renowned company so the guys doing the them aren't going to risk jail time or company reputation for a crappy wee football club!

Of course everyone in football is slightly curious but so long as the accountants sign off the accounts without so much as a sniff of qualification then curious is what we will remain.

As for them wasting money, long may it continue.

---

You sure about that? The only time I ever here their finances mentioned are on here.

Nobody cares except for a few Hibs fans.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FilipinoHibs

Total donations are £9 million. Happy to be proved wrong but you need to provide some evidence. You seem to know the make up of all the donations. Why don't you give us some evidence even in general sketchy terms. You are beginning to sound like John Swinney. He always says rubbish when presented with a logical argument but counters with no facts to explain why it is rubbish. I have asked you before but you have never come up with anything

---

You got any evidence that the guys at R* put their money in? Or Baillie Gifford?

You do tend to post a lot of opinion as if its fact yourself so it's a bit lame asking others to come up with evidence when they question you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhileTheChief..

You got any evidence that the guys at R* put their money in? Or Baillie Gifford?

You do tend to post a lot of opinion as if its fact yourself so it's a bit lame asking others to come up with evidence when they question you.

---

There is no evidence linking the large donations to any individual or group of individuals. The Baillie Gifford link is a rumour that has been in circulation for a while, largely supported by people who claim to be in the know (self included here as I heard the tale directly from someone who claimed to know the people involved). The Rockstar connection appears to have been a ridiculous extrapolation based on the proximity of the two companies' offices. The theory that the cash came from the Rosebery family just seems to be a confection whipped up out of the fairly recent Hearts away kit that looked like a Battenberg cake and was launched in honour of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, a former Prime Minister and Chairman of Hearts. While old Archie was probably Hearts' last true celebrity fan, it remains doubtful that his ancestors contributed the cash.

So the bottom line is, nobody knows for absolutely sure apart from the folks themselves, Auld Annie and, presumably, the auditors.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 007

Now they've paid back Ann Budge surely they'll start paying back the 200 creditors won't they?

---

Why would they do that? It was nothing to do with FoH.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alan62

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, a former Prime Minister and Chairman of Hearts.

---

....not forgetting being the Head Honcho of The Orange Order.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jack

If I recall correctly their accountants are compiled by an internationally renowned company so the guys doing the them aren't going to risk jail time or company reputation for a crappy wee football club!

Of course everyone in football is slightly curious but so long as the accountants sign off the accounts without so much as a sniff of qualification then curious is what we will remain.

As for them wasting money, long may it continue.

---

Do you ever read the business pages? The big accountancy firms are absolutely reeking. They will sign off anything on the basis of directors’ assurances.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhileTheChief..

You sure about that? The only time I ever here their finances mentioned are on here.

Nobody cares except for a few Hibs fans.

---

:thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jacomo

Do you ever read the business pages? The big accountancy firms are absolutely reeking. They will sign off anything on the basis of directors’ assurances and a very large fee.

---

Fixed that for you.

Budge being interviewed by Brian (I love Hearts) McLaughlin on BBC just now. Its almost like she gave him the list of questions to ask her.

Embarrassing by the BBC.

eta - Now Richard Gordon and Fatty Preston salivating about the unfinished dump of a stand........

Budgie on sportsound

Nothing will change unless the fans vote her off the board that will be soon i think.

Biscuits sitting in her legacy :greengrin "not finished yet but fantastic" :greengrin:aok:

I don’t get the kerfuffle.

Haven’t they always been fanny owned?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by green day

Budge being interviewed by Brian (I love Hearts) McLaughlin on BBC just now. Its almost like she gave him the list of questions to ask her.

Embarrassing by the BBC.

eta - Now Richard Gordon and Fatty Preston salivating about the unfinished dump of a stand........

---

They do have the bestest coolest glass curtainy wally thingy in the entire stratosphere though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by green day

Budge being interviewed by Brian (I love Hearts) McLaughlin on BBC just now. Its almost like she gave him the list of questions to ask her.

Embarrassing by the BBC.

eta - Now Richard Gordon and Fatty Preston salivating about the unfinished dump of a stand........

---

Richard Gordon's love for all things Hearts is weapons grade weirdness given he is an Aberdeen fan.

Good news! There must be a few chippy's and spark's amongst them who can finish the new stand.

Mates rates.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CloudSquall

Richard Gordon's love for all things Hearts is weapons grade weirdness given he is an Aberdeen fan.

---

The BBC appear to prefer the likes of his beige bland corporate pish to Michael Stewarts opinions.

Embarrassing

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jack

If I recall correctly their accountants are compiled by an internationally renowned company so the guys doing the them aren't going to risk jail time or company reputation for a crappy wee football club!

Of course everyone in football is slightly curious but so long as the accountants sign off the accounts without so much as a sniff of qualification then curious is what we will remain.

As for them wasting money, long may it continue.

---

Their accountants are Johnston Carmichael LLP with head office in Melville Street and a few rural branch offices . They’ve probably never been heard of outside Scotland.

Oh, and they employed Hearts bent administrator Bryan Jackson, as soon as he finished getting them out of Vlads financial implosion.

Why are only Hibs fans interested in Hearts finances? They are our bitter rival and everything they do comes under the microscope. We are lucky to have had a few financial savy fans.
During the Romanov era where over several years he wrote off/converted to equity £40 million of debt. Nobody flinched in the Scottish media. When UKIO Bankas first went into trouble and widely reported in the financial media nobody flinched in the Scottish media and it was said Hearts would not be impacted. We all know how that ended. Only on here was their proper analysis and reporting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jack

If I recall correctly their accountants are compiled by an internationally renowned company so the guys doing the them aren't going to risk jail time or company reputation for a crappy wee football club!
.

---

I seem to recall that the former Rangers FC Accounts were audited by ‘Internationally renowned accountants’ as were Hearts’ accounts.

They both went bust shortly after.