Robinson is defiant that Jambos must sell 

By PAUL KIDDIE 

WALKING into McLeod Street, it was clear this was no ordinary Monday evening in Gorgie. 

Cars parked for as far as the eye could see in the immediate vicinity of Tynecastle and people milling around on street corners told its own story - the most momentous annual general meeting in Hearts’ proud history was about to take place.

But the hundreds of Hearts fans who descended on the Gorgie Suite for the club’s 98th agm expecting fireworks over the proposed move to Murrayfield were left as disappointed as the revellers who flooded into the Capital at Hogmanay only for the festivities to be cancelled.

Last night’s meeting had promised to be one of the most important the fans had ever attended, supporters anxious to hear what the board had to say about their preferred option of selling Tynecastle and entering into a groundshare agreement with the Scottish Rugby Union.

Close to 1000 shareholders crammed into the Gorgie Suite - including the likes of Wallace Mercer, Leslie Deans and Robert McGrail - the high attendance forcing proceedings to kick off some 13 minutes behind schedule at 6.13pm, the delayed start prompting an apology from chairman Doug Smith.

People reckoned it was going to be an emotion-charged evening with passions running high over the apparent necessity to quit Gorgie over the non-viability of the stadium.

Yes, there were sporadic rants of a disenchanted few throughout the evening, an early blast of "Robinson, you are the only person unfit for Tynecastle. Get Out!" giving a false impression of how the evening would unfold.

But a polished and ultimately mind-numbing presentation - it lasted over an hour - from chief executive Chris Robinson on the reasons why the club has to leave Tynecastle and the merits of nearby Murrayfield had the no doubt desired effect of dulling everyone’s senses.

The earlier formal part of the evening saw written questions from the Shareholders’ Association, with Finance Director Stewart Fraser talking his audience through the profit and loss account.

6.30pm and it was time for questions from the floor, the board intimating it is planning to look into the possibility of saving up to £80,000 by delisting from the Stock Exchange, while Smith was forced to defend his chief executive’s six-figure salary.

SMG, in the form of David Archer, was given a chance to address its position, although he refused to answer the question of the company’s long-term plans for Hearts.

All this was a necessary part of the agm (which, by the end of the night, could have stood for Also Going to Murrayfield), as was the formality of passing the various resolutions courtesy of the board’s proxy votes.

An hour and a quarter after the start, Smith brought the formal part of proceedings to a close and opened the door for would-be saviour McGrail to take the microphone.

Loudly applauded to the front of the room, the property developer made a puzzling address. He firstly took a swipe at Robinson, indicated he is trying to coax former chairman Leslie Deans back onto the board, and then pointed a finger at the Bank of Scotland before claiming the only way forward was in unity.

"It’s quite hot in here - and it’s going to get hotter," he began. "The future of Hearts begins here." 

Never at any stage, though, did he go into details of his proposed purchase of the stadium, leaving many observers feeling the speech had been an anti-climax.

7.38pm and Robinson took centre stage for his presentation on Murrayfield - ironically termed The Big Issue. 

Turning back the clock ten years, the chief executive detailed the problems the club had endured financially and then pointed out that the thorny issue of leaving Tynecastle was actually brought up three years ago in his "Towards 2005" statement.

He took at swipe at the lack of co-operation from the Edinburgh City Council in helping them in the search for a new stadium but insisted that moving to the home of Scottish Rugby would save the club £875,000 in costs next year compared to a loss of £2.5million for staying at Tynecastle next season.

As pointed out from the floor, his desire to switch to Murrayfield was in stark contradiction to previously stated reasons why the stadium wasn’t suitable.

"I’ll hold up my hands and say I was talking up the merits of Straiton," he said. 

"That is the reality of it. That is my job. Murrayfield does have a flooding issue and it does have poor catering facilities."

Robinson revealed the club had turned down an offer of £12m for Tynecastle, the board hoping to recoup £2.5m-£3.5m per acre for the six acre site. At no point did his presentation go into details of how much Hearts would expect to pay for the lease of Murrayfield, although he did reveal they "knew the parameters" and weren’t put off by those figures.

Fans also found out that boss Craig Levein could have to go into next season, irrespective of where the team plays, having slashed a further £850,000 off the wage bill.

Robinson’s message was clear: Leave Tynecastle or die. 

An egm would have to be called to rubber-stamp any move, something that could be done within three months, according to the board last night.

As the meeting continued it became apparent there was a general acceptance among the fans that the board of directors would press on with their Murrayfield brainchild regardless of the supporters’ concerns, disenchanted Hearts legend Gary Mackay being seen to leave early clearly having heard enough about what the future appears to hold for the Jambos.

"This is the quietest agm I’ve been at for years," said one fan. "I thought the fans would be up in arms." 

Towards the end of the four-and-a-half hour marathon, Robinson observed that, in hindsight, the new-look Tynecastle should never have been built back in 1994.

"Compromises made then have come back to haunt us," he said. 

Supporters can only hope there are no such regrets over this latest momentous decision facing the Hearts board. 

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