Gary Mackay: Unity is vital but Hearts need clarity on their future

Unity is vital for everyone concerned with Heart of Midlothian right now. We have to draw a line under what has gone on within the football department. We need to draw that line to move forward no matter where we find ourselves, be it in a restructured Premiership or the Championship.

We don't know what will happen with the football department over the summer, so there are massive questions hanging over the club from all different angles just now. That's why we have to remain together, as we have done throughout our history.

Understandably, Ann Budge looks like she is trying to explore everything to help the situation. It is a massive issue for the football club that we are not demoted or expelled from the Premiership, or whatever term people want to use to describe it.

I totally get why Ann is looking at all eventualities, including a second attempt at league reconstruction. What I have said in the past few days in other media outlets is that the whole of Scottish football has become a laughing stock during this sorry episode. I'm not meaning Hearts are a laughing stock.

At the end of the day, if you are set to lose £3million in business revenue, then you have to explore all possibilities to prevent that.

The financial loss of being demoted to the Championship will be massive. If that is proven in court, then it is the SPFL's member clubs who will actually have to dig the money up.

I see it from that perspective as a supporter, and from the other side as a football player. Hearts were bottom of the league and I can understand people saying, 'you were the worst team in the division'. Up until the league stopped and we went into shutdown, we were. But with no opportunity to finish the league on the pitch, Hearts have to look at every eventuality.

I bow to the superior legal knowledge of others. If they feel our case is good enough to take forward, either to stay in a reconstructed top flight or salvage some kind of financial compensation, then I'm with them all the way.

My concern is that, if these things don't work, we are back at square one. Back in the Championship where Ann started off with us six years ago.

There have been disappointments all season on the field. Over the coming days and weeks, there will either be euphoria or more disappointment depending what happens to Hearts.

For our own club and for the rest of Scottish football, we need some kind of clarity sooner rather than later. This issue has dragged on and on in the public domain, far longer than it should have.

It's important for all parties to see an end to this soon, not only Hearts. Look at Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers. How must they be feeling? They don't have anything like our fanbase but does that mean they are less important?

Hearts are at the bottom of the league but these two teams have achieved this season by winning titles. Yet they are denied the right to a play-off to enter the SPFL, so their achievements are effectively null and void.

I hope we get clarity if Ann is able to send out her plan for league reconstruction today. Tony Fitzpatrick at St Mirren is already saying it won't get through and will be knocked on the head, so there are some negative vibes already.

Maybe people with greater legal knowledge than I have will see that we have exhausted all avenues and then, if we begin a court case, we can show all the opportunities people were given.

All our extensive work to try and create a bigger Premiership, and thus ensure no club suffers expulsion from the division they are in, is the right thing to do. If nothing else, it will then mean we have a stronger legal case.

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