Hearts players still anxiously waiting for last month's salary

• Edinburgh club no stranger to paying wages late
• Hearts hopeful first-team will be paid next week

Ewan Murray
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 October 2011 16.08 BST
Article history

Hearts' players, who have not been paid again by the club, during an SPL meeting with Rangers
Hearts' players have again not been paid by the club, with financial problems rumbling on. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images

First-team players at Hearts are still waiting for delayed monthly salaries after the monies did not appear in their bank accounts on Wednesday.

The lack of wages, which were due in the middle of October, led to a meeting between the Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas and anxious squad members on Friday. During those talks, Fedotovas expressed hope that salaries would be paid by Wednesday but also warned other bills had to be settled so Saturday's visit of Kilmarnock to Tynecastle could go ahead.

Yet funding still has not been transferred from Hearts' parent company, the Ukio Bankas Investment Group (UBIG), prompting wider fears. With debts last reported at £36.1m, UBIG's subsidy is essential to Hearts operating as an ongoing concern. The SPL club's annual wage bill is thought to be around £7m.

Although delays in wage payments are routine at Hearts, this is the longest the players have waited.

No direct explanation has been given for the delay, with Hearts now hopeful the monies will be paid next week. In the meantime, Scotland's Professional Footballers' Association is seeking a resolution to the problem.

A growing theory is that Vladimir Romanov, who controls Hearts and UBIG, has diverted attention and resources to basketball projects in his native Lithuania. Within the past week Zalgiris – the basketball team he owns – sacked their sixth head coach in only two years. Romanov has spent tens of millions of pounds on a new basketball stadium in Lithuania and the recruitment of foreign players.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer