'Hearts only have themselves to blame' - Ex-Hibs ace Paul Kane on rival's situation

Former Hibs ace Paul Kane feels Hearts “only have themselves to blame” for being in the position they are in, but would prefer to see the season finished so they can be relegated on the field.

With football postponed indefinitely, the Premiership expected to be terminated and league reconstruction plans scrapped, the Tynecastle side are heading for demotion to the Championship.

The team sit four points adrift at the bottom of the top flight with eight games remaining.

Kane’s preference is that those games get completed so there can be no complaints from Hearts fans regarding any impending relegation.

“I would like to see this season still played to a finish before next season starts so there is no grey area,” he told the Daily Record. “I want all of the arguments and what might have been arguments cut out and finished. I want it to be down to football that they are relegated, not because the season was finished eight games early. I want it to be because they weren’t good enough.

“If that doesn’t happen then there will always be these arguments from Hearts fans that, ‘but we might have done it,’ or ‘but we would have done it.’

“What we need is to somehow get the 38 games played so it’s official that you are automatically relegated because you finished bottom or went down via the playoffs."

Former Easter Road star Kane believes that Hearts will be entitled to have a “legitimate grievance” if they are demoted without concluding the season, but has hit out at the team’s performances across the season for putting the club in the situation they are in.

He said: “Hearts only have themselves to blame from a football point of view and it’s because that lot from across the city haven’t done it on the park.

“The most important aspect of any club is always the team on the park and Hearts are where they are because of performances.

“They have not been good enough on the pitch, simple.”