Gary Mackay: Why Hearts fans needed to see players agreeing wage cuts

Hearts fans are doing their bit to help their club.

As footballers, we sometimes have a greater appreciation of ourselves than we maybe should while we are playing. When you retire, your appreciation of yourself maybe becomes a bit more realistic than it was at particular times in your career.

You are hitting high spots and then you have a poor run of form. I was hugely surprised that, after Steven Naismith led the way and took a 50 per cent drop in his salary, that some Hearts players were questioning what the club were doing with the wages.

It's not going to be a players' market going forward and where we sit at this moment in time is about an individual and collective situation. I don't think it's important we know names, I just think it's important players know that right now nobody at Hearts should be thinking of themselves any differently.

Unless you have an agent offering you the promised land, I would have been hugely shocked if people hadn't agreed to the drop in wages. The people who will soon own Hearts are Foundation of Hearts. They are a fan group and most of their members are season-ticket holders, and the club are still trying to sell season tickets.

Supporters are continuing to be impacted and are continuing to help. The Foundation of Hearts' membership numbers have gone up so more people are joining to put money into the club. That highlights the connection the fans have to the club and people have to be aware of that devotion.

I have huge respect for Fraser Wishart if he has been advising the players in his role at PFA Scotland. He is a top guy and that's his job. However, when your supporters are as loyal as ours are, then seeing some players questioning this is difficult.

Fans will have lost jobs, or been furloughed, or they will be self-employed with no work coming in. Sometimes you need to have a look at the bigger picture.

Liverpool made a big mistake when they were going to furlough their staff. That shouldn't have happened at a club of their size. Sometimes you have to think a wee bit beyond yourself, although I do relate to the situation involving the Hearts players.

Ultimately during your playing career, and I've been there myself, most footballers only think about the person they see in the mirror each morning when they're shaving.

I'm not sure if this will repair any damage in terms of relations between the players and fans. I think it will help to some extent but the way it will be repaired fully will be going forward.

We need to see what league we are going into and what results will be achieved then. Agreeing to the cuts will help a bit. There has been a bit of time waiting for it to happen and it's good to finally see everybody doing their bit to help.

Nobody knows what the immediate future holds for Hearts but one thing is for sure: Togetherness at all levels of the club will be essential to deal with whatever comes our. That's what the supporters want to see, both on the field and off it.

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