If you didn't feel sorry enough for the Heart of Midlothian players already, today's weekly press briefing will set the tone for things to come.
"Have you received your wages?" will be question number one to the squad member who faces the media. And it probably will be thus for the rest of the season. The Ukio Bankas Investment Group's unwillingness or inability — the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle — to pay players their weekly salaries on time twice this season has prompted such interest. Public minds, unfortunately, will only fleetingly wander towards tomorrow's visit to Celtic Park; Hearts head west as a team in form, having won five SPL games in a row.
Just when all appeared to settle down for Edinburgh's maroon half under the charismatic guidance of Csaba Laszlo, the latest financial intrigue ensued. Failure to pay playing staff their wages on time twice this season and a private admission from within the club that they have a serious cash flow problem has led to even more scrutiny than was afforded to Vladimir Romanov. It is Romanov's UBIG empire who control Hearts, after all.
Regardless of events at Parkhead tomorrow, supporters will step up a "Back the team day" initiative for next weekend's visit of Dundee United. The motive? To fill Tynecastle, both as a pre-Christmas thanks to the team who have performed so impressively and professionally amid off-field madness, and to show Romanov — alongside any potential investors — that people care about this Scottish institution. Players are, of course, handsomely rewarded but the deferral of wages as agreed to by some of them at Hearts would not have been accepted elsewhere. Laszlo, a Hungarian with a loquacious touch, must be praised for the team spirit and togetherness he has installed in a previously fractious dressing room.
UBIG and Romanov's finances have always appeared a complex business. News that another football club who they purport to subsidise, the Belarus-based MTZ-Ripo, have failed to pay some staff in six months is significant, though. Those in Scotland who fear Hearts are controlled by an asset-rich, cash-poor organisation have current fears, not least because this is not a time to be cashing in on assets. Closer to home, Arbroath have been forced to wait until next month for a £14,000 sell-on payment from Hearts, a club who have aspirations of building a new £51m main stand.
UBIG's business ranges from property interests to aluminium plants. Plus, of course, a bank. That bank actually returned a profit in its latest figures, no mean feat in the current climate, but there is no clarity over how much of that money is subsidising other parts of the company. To be clear — and people continually confuse the two entities — paperwork issued at the time of UBIG purchasing a major share in Hearts showed that Ukio Bank accounts for a 13% shareholding in UBIG, significantly less than Romanov holds as an individual.
Those close to Romanov, and anyone who has encountered him, insist his enthusiasm for football and Hearts has not waned in such troubled times. A pertinent point, therefore, is surely that someone lower down the chain, and with a direct hand on purse strings, sees no particular need to supply regular funding to a club that has drained UBIG resources. If misgivings are in place, and continue, Romanov has some tough choices to make.
It is unfair to use the funding or otherwise of Tynecastle's proposed redevelopment as a stick with which to beat Romanov. Given that developers would currently have concerns over building a two-bedroom house, new stands at football grounds may not be economically viable. It is worth noting too that without Romanov's arrival in Edinburgh there would be no stands at Tynecastle at all; the ground was due to be sold for housing to clear debts.
In the intermittent three years, Hearts have come second in the SPL and lifted the Scottish Cup for only the seventh time. Borrowings — reduced from £37m on account of the sales of Craig Gordon and Roman Bednar, combined with a £12m debt for equity scheme funded by UBIG — when reported in January will not be meaningfully higher than when Romanov took office. Those who call for protests and take masochistic glee from present circumstances should remember such key factors; Hearts supporters will.
Yet players must be sold next month to ease short-term problems, problems partly created by exorbitant contracts handed to squad members two years earlier. That will, unfortunately, impact on the amiable Laszlo. Laryea Kingston will lead an exodus to England while Fulham and Wolves lead the race for Christophe Berra, a defender growing in stature by the week and who has attracted scouting interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.
Romanov may choose to ride it out. Or he may, as a tactic he has adopted when selling players, privately hope a buyer for Hearts comes forward. Perhaps not a serious prospect in these economic times but Romanov proved in the 2005-06 season there is enormous growth potential within this club. In return, the tycoon would demand at least a significant percentage of the sum he paid Halifax Bank of Scotland to buy out a £20m overdraft — secured directly against Tynecastle — and a percentage of the cash bestowed on players.
Don't expect anyone to admit it, but Hearts can be added to the extensive list of British clubs for sale. And a buyout may, finally, allow punters to focus on football again.
