Fans' delight over deal for Tynecastle revamp

HEARTS fans today welcomed the news that the club is a step closer to a £6million deal which will allow them to redevelop Tynecastle.

The Gorgie club are believed to have reached an agreement in principle with Edinburgh Council to purchase ground next to the stadium for £5.9m, thus allowing them to push ahead with plans to construct a new 12,000 seater main stand.
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However, the Council has warned they will not give Hearts the green light to purchase the land surrounding Tynecastle until they receive assurances that it will be solely be used to redevelop the stadium.

Club owner Vladimir Romanov has said that he eventually wants to see Hearts playing in a 40,000-capacity stadium but there had been fears that buying the land at Tynecastle High School and the MacLeod Street Adult Education Centre could prove to be a major stumbling block to his plans.

But Hearts are now proposing to pay out £4.1million for the school and £1.8million for the education centre and are expected to submit a planning application over the next few months.

Derek Watson of the Hearts Supporters’ Trust is delighted that the wheels finally seem to be in motion.

He said: “We are absolutely delighted that things seem to be moving in the right direction, we’ve been waiting for news for some time and it is nice to have something positive to talk about for a change.

“There did appear to have been a lot of red tape surrounding the whole thing but hopefully that has now been resolved and we can look to the future. One of the main objections that supporters had to Chris Robinson was the fact that he wanted to sell Tynecastle and move us to Murrayfield.

“Vladimir Romanov has always said that he wants to stay at Tynecastle and there’s no doubt that’s where the supporters want the club to stay.”

He added: “Before Mr Romanov came in there were doubts over whether he would be able to fill Tynecastle in its present form.

“That has not proved to be a problem, we’ve seen a number of sell-out games there over the last season or so.

“It all comes down to the product on the park and if they can just get that right then I don’t think they have to worry.”

However, the city council, which is expected to rubber-stamp the deal this month, first has to be convinced that the ground will not be used for other purposes.

A council spokesperson said: “We have been in discussion with Heart of Midlothian Football Club over the sale of land at Tynecastle.

“Our position is that we wish to see the success of both Edinburgh football clubs but any commercial transaction must be on the basis of value for money for the council and people of Edinburgh. We expect a report on the negotiations with Hearts to come before the Council Executive in January.”

Meanwhile, Romanov has decided not appeal against the £10,000 fine which was imposed on him by the SFA for comments he made about referees.

The Lithuanian banker had until 5pm last night to challenge the punishment but did not make contact with them before the deadline passed. He now has 30 days to stump up or face a four per cent increase in the fine.

Taken from the Scotsman