Hearts on the brink: Fans believe the club can survive crisis

HEARTS supporters today insisted that the club can survive the threat of extinction – but only if their fellow Jambos answer the call to arms.

The Tynecastle side last night stunned their fans by issuing a statement on their official website warning that the club might not survive beyond the end of this month if they do not receive their financial backing.

The outlook may be bleak at this moment in time, but Iain MacLeod, who was heavily involved in the Save Our Hearts campaign back in 2004, believes that Hearts can turn their fortunes around.

Macleod said: “I was shocked when I read the statement, both by the tone of it and the severity of it.

“The thought that the St Mirren game could be our last game in just over a week is just completely unbelievable. We just have to wait and see what happens now, but the one thing that we can do at the minute is get the stadium filled for the St Mirren game. I know that the hard-core fans will be there, but we need at least a few extra thousand.

“Given that we had 20,000 supporters at Hampden for the cup final in May and that there were around 100,000 out on the streets for the parade on the Sunday, getting an extra 4000 on the gate for next weekend’s home game against St Mirren, at this moment in time, wouldn’t seen to be insurmountable.

“I don’t want to get into the politics of the statement. We need to put money into the club. We need to turn up and watch football on a Saturday. This is a tough time for the club and attendance at games is key.”

His views were echoed by Alan Young, who runs Hearts fans’ website View From Gorgie.

He reckons that the statement released by the club could encourage supporters who had been holding off on buying shares because of doubts that they have over Vladimir Romanov to invest.

Young said: “This has been talked about for a long time, but I don’t think anyone really thought that it would come out of the blue like this. “We are in a better situation than Rangers are – at least we are not in administration. I am sure it will be horrible and it will be hard, but I think that we will get through it because we do have a good support.”