'No relegation across Europe - why are Hearts and others being forced down in Scotland?'

Enforced relegation is something Leslie Deans feels Hearts should not tolerate. He points to the vast majority of European leagues not sending teams down as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and longs for a similar approach in Scotland.

If and when the Scottish Professional Football League call a premature end to the Premiership, Hearts will be demoted with their remaining eight matches unplayed. The controversial vote to halt season 2019/20 will leave the Edinburgh club bearing a financial burden far greater than any other club.

"Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer have been the victims of a monstrous decision. The SPFL represents 42 member clubs and the greatest financial burden from this decision has fallen on one club – that is Hearts," said Deans.

"Like most football clubs, Hearts aren't awash with cash. Ann Budge has already said relegation would cost around £3m, but I think that's assuming the club comes back up after one season. The loss could be considerably more if Hearts stayed down longer.

"No disrespect to Partick or Stranraer, but the amount of the loss Hearts suffer will be, by quite a distance, the greatest. There is no loss falling on any of the other clubs apart from Thistle and Stranraer.

"No other country in Europe has enforced relegation when the league has not been completed on the park. There is one exception and that is France. I'm told the French government have sided with clubs who have gone against the French Football Federation trying to get the decision there overturned.

"England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland are not doing this. Nobody else is doing what we, in Scotland, felt the need to do. I've kept asking myself the question 'why'? There has never been a satisfactory answer."

Deans pointed out faults in the SPFL voting process as highlighted by Rangers and other clubs since Dundee’s well-publicised reverse on the casting vote. Attempts at league reconstruction were driven by Budge and Les Gray, the Hamilton vice-chair, but Premiership clubs stated last Friday they had no interest in a restructure right now.

That confirmed Thistle and Stranraer’s descent into the division below. Hearts will follow if the SPFL officially end the Premiership, which could happen within days.

"I don't think I need to start going through the faults of the SPFL. We would be here until tomorrow if I did,” continued Deans. “The issues highlighted by Rangers, the willful misrepresentation on the part of the SPFL in not telling the member clubs about a possible £10million repayment to Sky and BT.

"Would that have affected people's votes? It sure might have. Then there is the incompetence of the whole decision surrounding Dundee's vote. Dundee voted 'no'. The QC advising Partick Thistle [David Johnson] gave his clear opinion that, under company law, the minute Dundee made their vote it was not capable of being changed to ‘yes’.

"The fact that the SPFL managed to allegedly lose that vote doesn't alter anything, so the resolution failed. The SPFL are driving through a resolution which actually failed and it ends up relegating Hearts, Partick and Stranraer. You couldn't make it up.

"The Falkirk chairman, Gary Deans [no relation], said clubs 'misled and deceived' and you think, 'what the hell is going on?' I think Ann's approach has been admirable in trying to see if there was common ground, sit round the table and take the heat out of the situation. But how did that end up?

"It ended up with half a dozen Premiership clubs saying, 'ach, we had no interest in reconstruction anyway'. Was the task force a complete waste of everybody's time and effort? Looks like it, doesn't it? Why didn't clubs say that from the start?”

Deans feels more co-operation and joined-up thinking across the Scottish football is vital to the game’s future in this country.

"Clubs are rivals but there have been times in the past when clubs have gone out of their way to help each other,” he said.

“I remember the late Wallace Mercer, as Hearts chairman, wanting to takeover Hibs and close them down in 1990. A lot of Hearts people stood beside Hibs and said: 'No, you have a right to your own existence. You shouldn't be taken over. It's wrong.'

"I remember saying to Wallace myself in a private conversation at the time that I wasn't convinced it was a good idea. So there is an example of co-operation when the very existence of another club was threatened.

"We don't actually see any great co-operation from other clubs towards Hearts when they're in danger of being relegated because of an event that will likely end the season early. This isn't bout sour grapes, it's about considerable financial loss.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper. Our journalists are highly-trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper. Thank you. Joy Yates, Editorial Director.