Gary Mackay: Why Hearts must emerge stronger after SPFL arbitration verdict

Hearts are in good hands with Robbie Neilson, says Gary Mackay

It’s no great surprise that the independent arbitration panel has found in favour of the SPFL. When the verdict is coming on July 27 and the league is due to start six days later, it was fait accompli.

The fixtures were out a few weeks back for the Premiership to kick off this weekend, so were they really going to disrupt all that to reinstate Hearts to the top flight and leave Dundee United out?

I didn’t expect them to and I don’t think a lot of other people did, either. It’s disappointing, but not surprising. It’s the supporters I’m disappointed for. They have been through a hard time of it for a few years now.

Things were difficult in the late 1970 and early 1980s at Tynecastle, as I’ve alluded to before, but the fans came together and everyone got the club through those troubled times.

We have to make sure there is a resilience and a desire for the football club to come back stronger now. That’s the attitude we need to take us forward over the coming months.

For me, that starts next week with pre-season training and should hopefully build from there.

Hearts went out on a limb to fight for what they felt was the right decision because they felt we had been wronged, but it was always going to be difficult to win a case like that.

You now have to try and use the outcome for motivation and develop a siege mentality if it can help. Come October, we must have one focus – making sure we win the Championship title again as we did when Rangers and Hibs were in there with us in 2014/15.

This has to be a short-lived stay in the second division. When we do get back into the Premiership, we have to make sure we make an impact. People have to notice that Heart of Midlothian won’t take things lying down.

There will be some resentment over the arbitration verdict for a while. That’s inevitable given everything that’s gone on over the last few months.

However, I think it’s important that, for the health of the club, we take positives from what has happened over the summer because we do need to rebuild.

We have Robbie Neilson back in charge and Jim Jefferies is helping, although let’s not forget the sad news over the weekend regarding our former player David Hagen. Everyone’s thoughts go out to his family after his tragic passing.

There are some positives taking place at Tynecastle with the changes made over the last four to six weeks. The number of season ticket sales show the supporters are quite willing to back the team again as soon as they are able to enter stadiums.

It’s about us all being together. There is a togetherness that Hearts bring out in their supporters and the guys in charge now know what that is like – and how to harness it.

I think the football department is in good hands and that is the positive we have to take forward with us into the 2020/21 campaign.

Going forward, you have to hope it doesn’t cost us too much financially. Right away, dropping down to the Championship means a drop in money and that must be managed.

There is the issue of no crowds, but also the number of players at Hearts on good contracts earning money while the club’s income is severely limited.

There is a lot to deal with when you think games are starting this weekend and we won't play until early October.

We still have a healthy squad in terms of numbers and a lot of them will be on decent salaries, even with the furlough situation.

So that needs to be looked at and money might be tight for a while, as it will be for most clubs. When we come out of the other side, let’s just ensure Hearts are beating stronger.

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. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers – and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.