HEARTS chairman Ann Budge believes the Tynecastle club are better placed to cash in on their prized assets than in the past - and can narrow the financial gap with Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers by doing so.
The Edinburgh club’s centre half Kye Rowles, who was signed for an undisclosed fee from Central Coast Mariners during the summer, played for Australia in all four of their matches at the World Cup in Qatar.
The Gorgie outfit’s chief executive Andrew McKinlay stated at their AGM on Thursday that there was no need to sell the Socceroos defender and expressed hope he would remain in the capital for two to three years and become a legend.
However, Budge knows that Hearts need to follow the lead of Celtic and Rangers, who have made multi-million pound profits offloading their most saleable assets in the past, in the long-term and is confident manager Robbie Neilson now has several players in his squad who they can sell.
“One thing ourselves and other clubs need to do better, and it is hard, is player trading,” she said. “That is where you can make so much money. In the last couple of years that is what we have been essentially saying.
“We have been through a period where we have said: ‘We really need to get more experience in’. We have brought in players towards the end of their careers because we felt we really needed that.
“But that is no use for player trading, it might be right for whatever problem you are dealing with at the time. It is this mix, and I know it is a very difficult one. We spend a lot of money on the academy.
“We spend a lot of money on the performance school. We have spent a lot of money on setting up a B team. That is all about growing our own. There has got to be two pathways there. Grow your own, either to go into your first team or to sell on.
“Experienced players who we have brought in more recently have in the main been in that mid-20s age group where they are either coming to or at their peak and they have got resale value. We talk about resale value more than we did in the past.
“But if you are Celtic and Rangers your player will be worth X, if you are any other club it will be worth a fraction of that.”
Budge, though, is optimistic that Hearts, who made £5m from playing in the Conference League this season, can benefit financially from being involved in Europe group stage football on a regular basis and draw closer to Celtic and Rangers as a result.
“Ourselves, Aberdeen, Hibs, everybody is trying to do the same thing,” he said. “We are all trying to bridge that gap.
“There is no question that some of the recent changes in Europe, where there are other avenues to get into playing should be helpful.
“Having said which, you only really make money if you get into the group stages. If you don't, the likelihood is you are going to lose money. Top line it will bring over £5million to us this year. If we do that next year and the year after and the next year we won't have quite so much cost. Gradually it builds up.”
