THE BIG DEBATE 

I thought you might be interested in hearing what went on in the Orwell Lodge tonight. This meeting was organised by Kickbackers (Padre),and involved most of the people involved in thelatest controversy regarding Murrayfield. The meeting started at 7:30 and ended at 10:45.

Everyone had a chance to speak...

Charles McLaughlin (Shareholders Association) - . Spoke for 5 mins.They have not canvassed their members...biggest decision in Hearts history... 6 people own 71%, 3900 own 29%. Let's support the team and the players through this.

 Robin Beith (Fed) - Spoke for 30 secs. Every supporters club is against this move this summer. We have no confidence in this board to take it forward (rapturous applause).

Ali Hibberd (Fans Forum) - Spoke for 5 mins. Last meeting was in November when they chose Murrayfield over Straiton. Not had a meeting since. Lack of numbers at the meetings meant lack of credibility. Didn't go down well.

Martin Laidlaw (Supporters Trust)- spoke for 5 mins. Decision is short sighted and rash....not all options have been looked at....structure of the board must change....Murrayfield is a mistake...keep our hearts in Gorgie. (big applause).

Chris Robinson (CE) - spoke for 25 mins. Heckled from the start, nearly walked out The biggest issue is getting Heartsin a trading position where the debt does not increase.....If we stay at Tynecastle we lose £2.5m and we have no support from the bank or creditors. We only have funds till 31st July....If we stay, ALL players of any value will go. Playing with 16 teenagers is unpalatable....Key issue is viability, not pitch sizes....Moving to Murrayfield will drop £1.1m off rhe running costs....If we go for the McGrail deal, the rent will be more than the current interest payment....The stadium is secured to RBOS and the McGrail deal would require their approval....If we stay there is a real possibility of administrators coming in and selling Tynecastle anyway.....Atmosphere will not give you a team on the park.....Murrayfield has the best views of a pitch you will ever get....

Robert McGrail (property developer) - spoke for 20 minutes. He has offered £8-£10m for the land at developers price and will lease it back....He said himself that the deal is unlikely although he would keep taling....Why the urgency? This board have taken us to the precipice, why do they wany to then take us over the precipice? Why not have a debenture issue for the main stand? If I were in your position Chris, I would resign. ...He pointed out that just a 10% drop in crowds at Murrayfield would mean players being sold.

Leslie Deans (Solicitor). Spoke for 20 minutes. If the value of your land is worth more than your debt you are not a team in trouble....What happens if the SRU move in 3 years time? He then went over old ground re Robinsons track record and a kind of I told you so with the SMG deal. He made it plain that shareholders can still be influenced. CR holds 19%, SMG 20%. Other than that he doesn't know how the rest will vote. he urged all Shareholders to canvas others and campaign....He believes season ticket sales will go down, he asked why new corporate people would want to come now.

His alternative? Spend what you earn. Sign players from eastern European clubs once they have joined the EEC.

 Board changes must take place. There's nothing wrong with the main stand, the board has misled us. He was not allowed to speak at the agm although he asked to.THIS BOARD MUST BE STOPPED.

Gary Mackay (legend) - spoke for 10 minutes. He agrees with the Scotsman articles and Donald Ford (criticising CR), He says criticism only comes when you are performing badly....He went into Tynecastle to take his Scotland Strip back at the weekend. Clearly emotional and no lover of CR (could see it in his body language, in fact he had to come away from the top table and stand in the crowd at one point because he and CR were arguing so much, so much so that compere Mark Donaldson was heard to say "now now children")

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

1. What season ticket projections have you made? Same as this season, althohgh we haveother projections for a 20% increase and 20% decrease

2. How much to get into Murrayfield? Don't know. Not substantially less.

3. to Deans - Is your £10m offer still on the table? No 

4. Will SMG vote on this issue (conflict of interests etc). Definately yes

5.Your record to date on property and development is't good, how can we believe you now? They use property experts. Some things turned out to be economically not viable.

6. What if the SRU move from Murrayfield? They won't. There are 22000 debenture holders. Anyway, we will have a 3 year clause in there

At this point Gary Mackay had a rant, calling the board spineless. He asked what happens in a years time if Murrayfield is not a success. CR (after a big delay and much heckling) said Hearts could last about 3 years in an unsuccessful Murrayfield.

 7. Could we have a new 500 club? He will think about it. He did point out that the club did give this money back.

8. Will a document be circulated before the EGM outlining the options? CR - What other options are there?

At this point a shareholder called Colin got up. He was an accountant running a business considerably bigger than Hearts. Wanted McGrail and Deans to put their money where their mouth is. The bottom line seems to be that the McGrail deal is unlikely to be accepted and the Deans offer from 18 months ago is not longer on the table.

9. Please postpone the decision for one year? CR didn't answer this one

10. What will it take for you to resign? No answer

11. Is there any possibility for a smaller stadium beside Murrayfield? Possibly, but thats further into the future

12. Is there any room for compromise on this issue? I have a duty to the shareholders

13. Can we ask Edinburgh Rugby to share Tynecastle thus cutting costs? Pitch is too smal for Rugby Union

14. How do we know you are noy lying to us now? No answer.

15. Robert McGrail - will you sell me your shares? CR- I will sit down and talk but not in public. He said don't hold out any hope of a deal as these two (Deans and McGrail) have a track record of not putting deals on the table

16. Would you sell your shares to the supporters? NO

17. If the fans raised the £2.5m anticipated loss money would the board reconsided. I don't know

18. to McGrail - how do we know that if we do a deal with you we are not getting back into the frying pan? I didn't come here to be criticised.

In the end it turned out to be a very heated meeting with a few people at the back heckling throughout, The Chairman (Mark Donaldson) struggled to keep order, and most fans left feeling we had not made much progress.

What was clear is that the season ticket sales will go down substantially.

this section maintained by Craig Young