A footballer turned lawyer reckons Hearts' £8m compensation demand is below what the relegated Jambos could potentially recoup.
It comes after they and Partick Thistle lodged joint papers at Edinburgh’s Court of Session with the Jags looking for £2m after their own demotion to League One.
The alliance between the pair is set to lead to a unprecedented legal dispute with our game poised to be caught up in red tape ahead of the proposed Premiership return date of August 1.
The recriminations appear unlikely to ease anytime soon after Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers teamed up in a legal counter move of their own against the M8 alliance.
And now David Winnie, the former Aberdeen star turned legal eagle, believes Ann Budge 's written request for a fixed fee from the governing bodies may be on the cautious side.
Speaking to BBC Sportsound, he said: "All of that will no doubt come out in evidence.
"How they have quantified that, I don't know, and frankly I think they are being conservative with that figure.
"The sums here have gone up but I think they are being conservative with it.
"In the Championship there is no guarantee they are going to come straight back up."
Host Richard Gordon then asked if future results could factor into the Jambos' legal case if and when it is heard in a courtoom.
Before Winnie added: "They have set out a figure, they could have asked for damages in a sum to be assessed by the court, but they have not in this case.
"So, they must have some figure, and again, if it goes there way, this will be adduced to the court in evidence as to how they have arrived at this figure.
"I think they are being conservative, to be honest."
