Originally Posted by
Dashing Bob S
I disagree with the conceptual thinking behind "I want them to survive as the low rent mob they really are, without financial doping/I want them liquidated..." What I wanted was for them not to cheat other clubs out of higher league positions and prize money, European slots and cup winning opportunities. (I exempt us from the later, as we are perfectly capable of self-sabotage here, without their help), but it has happened, so everybody has to face the consequences of their actions. Not to have any, or to have minimal ones, and the idea of sporting competition, shoddy enough a concept in Scotland, becomes untenable.
They used to say "we only owe it to ourselves", the truth of the matter is they've only done it to themselves, and what we 'want', as regards to their cheating, just like what they want, is now neither here nor there.
I've said right at the start of this fiasco that the only way I can see this panning out for them was administration, followed by liquidation. Whether or not they stagger on to the end of the season is irrelevant; I don't believe that they will obtain the shares to close the CVA before their money runs out.
Now I'll go further, I think if they stagger on to the end of the season, it will be to to their detriment, as the subsequent post-liquidation reorganisation of the club will taken some time and stop them from competing in any tournaments in the 2014-15 season. I think we'll have a year without Hearts before the club find their way, probably groundless, into the Lowland League in the 2015-16 season. It will be well into the 2020's before they are in the top flight of Scottish football again.
Now we can debate as to whether that punishment is justified, too harsh, or they've gotten away with it. The point is that they have entirely brought it on themselves.
When the Pieman left them in a mess, that was the time to face the music and reconstitute the club. They carried on even more stupidly, and crucially (and the thing which will really hammer the club in my view) they got mixed up with an overseas conglomerate run by very shady people. The 'delay to complete the CVA' is far from the technical matter it's being touted as. It's tied into a complex major international criminal investigation, and one which the Scottish authorities have absolutely no jurisdiction over. And they tied themselves to this process when they took Vladimir Romanov's fool's gold.
Footballing wise, yes, it would be nice after 30 years of financial doping, to play Hearts on a level playing field, or even continually horse a weaker club. But that opportunity has probably been removed for a generation of both Hibs and Hearts fans, by the rather silly and pathetic choices that club has made.
