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Sergejus Fedotovas talks up Hearts survival prospects

Image: Hearts: Troubled times at Tynecastle

Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas has claimed the club are on the road to fending off the immediate threat of closure and revealed talks were ongoing over a "short-term fix" from Vladimir Romanov.

Fedotovas blamed the global economic situation for their ongoing problems paying tax and defended the decision to re-sign Ryan Stevenson in August despite their precarious financial position. Stevenson had walked out of the club in January amid frustration over late payment of wages, a situation that was repeated in the last two months. "We haven't paid any millions for Ryan Stevenson," Fedotovas said. "He is a Scottish player, we were able to negotiate a decent contract with him and the management believe he will be of good service to this club." The latest wage delays sparked a Scottish Premier League transfer ban, set to last until December 23, but given Rudi Skacel had been training with the club before the embargo was extended, it is not inconceivable to think Hearts might have been willing to add to their squad further just weeks ago. Fedotovas admitted there was a £2million funding gap that Hearts will have to plug before the summer, when they can repeat this summer's reduction of the wage bill. But they face another tax bill of £1.75million, which HMRC have claimed after players on loan from Kaunas, which Romanov also owned, were paid in Lithuania rather than in the UK. The matter is subject to a tribunal which could take several months to rule and Fedotovas has insisted the £1.79million share issue is not designed to pay off this sum, but to meet the shortfall in revenue before the end of the season. However, he was unable to offer supporters any guarantees that supporters would be handed more say in the running of the club in the form of a representative on the board in return for their investment . "We will definitely look at this and try to address it but to a certain extent it's difficult to do because I believe every single fan wants to be on the board," he said. "How to pick the right person, how to do it is a question for the future and we will be thinking about that and addressing it for the future. "We are trying to maintain a dialogue with fans' groups and representatives and listen to what they want to see and say."

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