The generic Hearts thread

[El Gubbz]

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They're due to pay back a loan of £1m to a director & other loans totalling £2m next month.
At end June 2019 they owed trade creditors £2.3m more than they were owed by trade debtors. Our trade debtors exceeded our trade creditors by £600k.
At end June 2019 they had £600k in the bank. We had £5.5m
None of the above is good for Hearts.
They turned around a negative cash flow of £5.3m in 2018 to a positive of £392k this year but that was as a result of nearly £2m (net) in donations.

These numbers are now nearly a year old. Their finances may have improved but as their revenue last year included a cup final & semi final & increased attendances at Murrayfield I doubt their gate income can have increased. If these were our numbers I would be concerned.

Would almost all of their creditor numbers not be entirely season tickets purchased pre 30 June 2019 for season 19/20 (sure the majority of their creditors were falling within 12 months so makes sense).

Our books are definitely in a much healthier position which is pretty impressive considering how much extra revenue they’ve got.

Much of that is to do with them having Hospitality in-house though but maybe having a lot of our hospitality outsourced hasn’t been such a bad thing during this pandemic

[cocteautwin]

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It's only 1 line that mentions her, so it's not surprising that you might miss it. Every other reference is to "a" director's loan. Part of me wonders if that obfuscation (?) was deliberate.

She's been a bit misleading about this loan from the start. I remember she told everyone that HMFC had secured additional funding of almost £2m a while back and the way it was worded seemed to imply that it was a loan from an external institution to HMFC but in fact it was a loan from her to Hearts. Actually, looking at that note 31 it does say that the loan is a back to back facility so I guess the loan to her does come from an external institution, she guarantees it herself and then she has granted the further loan to HMFC, so in some ways I can understand why she wanted it to look like external funding.

[Heisenberg]

Their mystery benefactor has been revealed

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...stery-22117108

[we are hibs]

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Their mystery benefactor has been revealed

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...stery-22117108

I thought this was common knowledge? At least the Baillie Gifford part anyway

[Onion]

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Their mystery benefactor has been revealed

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...stery-22117108

Not surprised it was one of the BG guys using their pocket change to prop up Hearts.

But be under no illusion. If Anderson donates a chunk of free money to the SPFL, he will be in a position to subtly influence decisions in Hearts favour. Morally, clubs and the SPFL will feel obliged to repay any generosity in some way and Budge will be able to leverage her relationship with him to get what she wants. This guy is not neutral and could be the ace up Budge's sleeve to get her out of trouble.

[The 90+2]

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Not surprised it was one of the BG guys using their pocket change to prop up Hearts.

But be under no illusion. If Anderson donates a chunk of free money to the SPFL, he will be in a position to subtly influence decisions in Hearts favour. Morally, clubs and the SPFL will feel obliged to repay any generosity in some way and Budge will be able to leverage her relationship with him to get what she wants. This guy is not neutral and could be the ace up Budge's sleeve to get her out of trouble.

As much as I agree with you on the whole the gesture as a whole is very decent. Hearts will lose about £4m they say going down, why does the guy not just donate that to them instead of potentially more to the lower league clubs if it was all about them staying in this league? Or is the bigger picture that they could be crippled with no games. If reconstruction fails?

Could we then see a situation where hearts then take the spfl to court yet the same guy that puts money into hearts is putting money into the other clubs to help any compensation they may have to eventually pay to hearts?

[FilipinoHibs]

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I thought this was common knowledge? At least the Baillie Gifford part anyway

Many said so but others were put forward to. He has been a partner since 1987 so will be a very wealthy man. Ties in with CapitalGreen's report that he has been hit by the financial crisis - his funds are invested in equities that were badly hit - and Hearts were down the list of benefactors

I think it is an attempt to make the Championship viable behind closed doors so Hearts don't go under. Without gate receipts each club on average needs about a £1 million to survive a season.

[CropleyWasGod]

The article is ambiguous.

It talks about "He and others" being the donors, and then later on about him being the only donor.

[duffers]

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The article is ambiguous.

It talks about "He and others" being the donors, and then later on about him being the only donor.

If you take a look at who write it.... are you really surprised?

[Michael]

Sick of Hearts wasting his money, so he's gonna give it to the other clubs.

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

Surely this leaking now isn’t to somehow influence last-ditch voting on league restructuring?

That would be too obvious a massive bribe/corruption right?

[Man Down Under]

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Surely this leaking now isn’t to somehow influence last-ditch voting on league restructuring?

That would be too obvious a massive bribe/corruption right?

I don't think the donation is based on reconstruction, if anything the donation should allow a bit more normality with how to proceed.

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[Onion]

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As much as I agree with you on the whole the gesture as a whole is very decent. Hearts will lose about £4m they say going down, why does the guy not just donate that to them instead of potentially more to the lower league clubs if it was all about them staying in this league? Or is the bigger picture that they could be crippled with no games. If reconstruction fails?

Could we then see a situation where hearts then take the spfl to court yet the same guy that puts money into hearts is putting money into the other clubs to help any compensation they may have to eventually pay to hearts?

Who knows but got to ask... if it was St Mirren or Hibs relegated, would we be hearing from him ? No, don't think so either. SPFL need to interrogate his motives and to what extent this is driven by Hearts predicament.

Hearts have run their race for the Prem. They'll not take this to court. Anderson pumping £millions more into Hearts is not going to help them now, so a different approach is needed.

[Caversham Green]

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Surely this leaking now isn’t to somehow influence last-ditch voting on league restructuring?

That would be too obvious a massive bribe/corruption right?

I think it might be the opposite. I doubt if James Anderson would want to be known as the man who bribed or coerced clubs to vote Hearts back into the SPFL whereas while he was anonymous it was always possible. Maybe ND has asked that his identity should be revealed to show that it's all above board.

If this donation comes to pass we should be grateful to the man - Alloa, Brechin and Stenhousemuir are just as important a part of Scottish football as Celtic, Rangers, Hibs or Aberdeen. Hearts - not so much.

[Ozyhibby]

I think this makes it more difficult for Hearts to avoid relegation. Any reconstruction now would make it look like the clubs were bribed. The damage to the game would be massive. It would also damage Hearts in the long term more than a relegation would.


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[Ozyhibby]

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I think this makes it more difficult for Hearts to avoid relegation. Any reconstruction now would make it look like the clubs were bribed. The damage to the game would be massive. It would also damage Hearts in the long term more than a relegation would.


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Actually Keith Jackson makes that exact point in the record today.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...mpression=true


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[Clarence]

It’s his money and he can do what he likes with it but I wonder what that money could have done to save lives during this pandemic.

Lower league football and Opera are tragic but they should not be the tragedies we focus on when there are real tragedies out there to be managed.

[Ozyhibby]

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It’s his money and he can do what he likes with it but I wonder what that money could have done to save lives during this pandemic.

Lower league football and Opera are tragic but they should not be the tragedies we focus on when there are real tragedies out there to be managed.

We are not lacking money during this pandemic. The hospitals are not being held back in any way by lack of cash to fight it.


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[brog]

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I thought this was common knowledge? At least the Baillie Gifford part anyway

Some said it was them, others said no.

[Peevemor]

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I think it might be the opposite. I doubt if James Anderson would want to be known as the man who bribed or coerced clubs to vote Hearts back into the SPFL whereas while he was anonymous it was always possible. Maybe ND has asked that his identity should be revealed to show that it's all above board.

If this donation comes to pass we should be grateful to the man - Alloa, Brechin and Stenhousemuir are just as important a part of Scottish football as Celtic, Rangers, Hibs or Aberdeen. Hearts - not so much.

It could be that he intended to put up the money in any case, but let Budge infer that it had to pass through Hearts in an effort to strengthen their reconstruction argument.

[CapitalGreen]

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Many said so but others were put forward to. He has been a partner since 1987 so will be a very wealthy man. Ties in with CapitalGreen's report that he has been hit by the financial crisis - his funds are invested in equities that were badly hit - and Hearts were down the list of benefactors

I think it is an attempt to make the Championship viable behind closed doors so Hearts don't go under. Without gate receipts each club on average needs about a £1 million to survive a season.

Apology accepted

[The Falcon]

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They're due to pay back a loan of £1m to a director & other loans totalling £2m next month.
At end June 2019 they owed trade creditors £2.3m more than they were owed by trade debtors. Our trade debtors exceeded our trade creditors by £600k.
At end June 2019 they had £600k in the bank. We had £5.5m
None of the above is good for Hearts.
They turned around a negative cash flow of £5.3m in 2018 to a positive of £392k this year but that was as a result of nearly £2m (net) in donations.

These numbers are now nearly a year old. Their finances may have improved but as their revenue last year included a cup final & semi final & increased attendances at Murrayfield I doubt their gate income can have increased. If these were our numbers I would be concerned.

How is their (now) £22.5m main stand being funded?

[lucky]

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I think it might be the opposite. I doubt if James Anderson would want to be known as the man who bribed or coerced clubs to vote Hearts back into the SPFL whereas while he was anonymous it was always possible. Maybe ND has asked that his identity should be revealed to show that it's all above board.

If this donation comes to pass we should be grateful to the man - Alloa, Brechin and Stenhousemuir are just as important a part of Scottish football as Celtic, Rangers, Hibs or Aberdeen. Hearts - not so much.

Spot on, outside of Hibs very few are that bothered about Hearts going down. This gesture if it comes to fruition is an amazing gesture that could save the SPFL lower league clubs. I doubt a guy of his business standing is going to be linked with trying to bribe clubs into voting for restructuring.

But if he is such a big jambo why did he not buy them out of administration? Budgie put up £2m for them and is supposedly getting her cash back but in the Record article he’s put in £9m for nothing. I don’t think we’ve seen all the pieces of the Hearts financial puzzle just yet.

[brog]

The article says £9m over 7 years & mentions the Save The Children shirt sponsorship. I (& others) identified £9m in the last 3 years alone & the shirt deal started in 2015. Cocteau estimated £15m donations in the last 3 years. They've spaffed this huge financial advantage up against a wall, or rather a glass curtain!!

[Peevemor]

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Spot on, outside of Hibs very few are that bothered about Hearts going down. This gesture if it comes to fruition is an amazing gesture that could save the SPFL lower league clubs. I doubt a guy of his business standing is going to be linked with trying to bribe clubs into voting for restructuring.

But if he is such a big jambo why did he not buy them out of administration? Budgie put up £2m for them and is supposedly getting her cash back but in the Record article he’s put in £9m for nothing. I don’t think we’ve seen all the pieces of the Hearts financial puzzle just yet.

I think Hamilton, Ross County & St Mirren are extremely "bothered" about Hearts going down.

[Lee Marvin]

James Anderson is the real deal. An extraordinarily wealthy man who is literally a genius in the field of Investments - runs arguably one of the best, and now biggest, Investment Trusts (Funds) in the world.

The way this has unfolded is very interesting. My feeling is that Anderson and Budge have been speaking throughout this crisis with Benny ready to release funds directly to Hearts if they managed to stay in the Premiership. However, their 'plan B' would be to provide funds to the lower leagues so that Hearts actually have a league to play in if they eventually got the chop.

This seals Hearts fate, make no mistake about that. Anything other than Hearts being relegated would be seen as a bribe and there is no way on earth that Anderson would get embroiled in a scandal like that - especially coming from the heavily regulated Financial Services world and in his position as Partner at Baillie Gifford.

Hearts are down, 100%. But I am slightly gutted that he is Benny Factor as he is extremely credible and wealthy

[brog]

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How is their (now) £22.5m main stand being funded?

IIRC a donation of £2.3m last year was specifically towards development costs.. Other than that i haven't tried to identify that funding.

[CapitalGreen]

James Anderson and his wife Morag are the main benefactor for the Edinburgh International Festival who Hearts allowed inexplicably to host their opening concert on the brand new £1m pitch, destroying it for the best part of a year. The answer to who was benefactor was staring you in the face the whole time.

https://www.eif.co.uk/support-us/supporters-1

[Peevemor]

The DR article says that he has given money to Hearts "along with others".

It's not just him.

[jeffers]

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James Anderson is the real deal. An extraordinarily wealthy man who is literally a genius in the field of Investments - runs arguably one of the best, and now biggest, Investment Trusts (Funds) in the world.

The way this has unfolded is very interesting. My feeling is that Anderson and Budge have been speaking throughout this crisis with Benny ready to release funds directly to Hearts if they managed to stay in the Premiership. However, their 'plan B' would be to provide funds to the lower leagues so that Hearts actually have a league to play in if they eventually got the chop.

This seals Hearts fate, make no mistake about that. Anything other than Hearts being relegated would be seen as a bribe and there is no way on earth that Anderson would get embroiled in a scandal like that - especially coming from the heavily regulated Financial Services world and in his position as Partner at Baillie Gifford.

Hearts are down, 100%. But I am slightly gutted that he is Benny Factor as he is extremely credible and wealthy

Something smells about this tho. If he’s been pumping money into Hearts and is willing to continue to do so how come Budge was the first to come out and state the financial impact of Covid-19 would be serious for them. First she insists players had to take a pay cut, then even more surprisingly refuses to offer refunds on season tickets and only on Saturday says relegation will cost jobs. It just doesn’t add up.