HEARTS players have not been paid their wages this week, it emerged last night.
It is the second time that salary payments have been missed by the Tynecastle club this season, coming two months after the players went a week without their wages.
Last night, Hearts insisted that this latest delay to players' wage payments will
be remedied on Monday. Off-field staff at the Gorgie club were paid their monthly monies a week ago, but another problem with player wages will prompt further scrutiny of Vladimir Romanov's stewardship of Hearts.
It is a distraction the players could have done without on the eve of an important match against Rangers at Tynecastle at lunchtime today.
When the same situation arose earlier this season, the problem was blamed on a technicality, but it was never adequately explained. In September, club officials called it a "glitch". This time, an almost identical motive has been offered, this time a "blip".
A club spokesperson said last night: "The funds are in place, the money has been transferred and will be in the players' bank accounts on Monday morning."
Fans are sure to treat that assurance with caution. Last time this happened, there was an assurance that players would be paid early the following week, but the payments did not reach Hearts players until the end of the week.
The system for Hearts' weekly wage payments centres around cash being transferred by the club's parent company, the Ukio Bankas Investment Group, on a regular basis.
In September, no such transfer had been made with Halifax Bank of Scotland unwilling to provide an overdraft beyond £100,000 given than they no longer hold security over Tynecastle Stadium. This time, the cause of the delay is unknown.
Ironically, new manager Csaba Laszlo told The Scotsman this week that he paid players' wages from his own pocket during a turbulent time as the Ferencvaros manager.
Laszlo revealed in the aftermath of Hearts' failure to pay their wages on time earlier this season that the Hungarian outfit had only forwarded money due to him from three years earlier, six months ago. Yet he has explained how the once "great" club's financial troubles ran much deeper.
"I had to give money for two or three players' wages at the end of every month," said Laszlo, who was speaking before the latest situation came to light last night.
"You could not imagine some of the things that went on. One player, who later played for the Hungarian national team, brought his wife and child to watch us train. I asked why this was, and he told me he had nowhere to live; he had nothing. This was at the biggest team in Hungary. I found a flat for the player, spoke to the president and I gave him some money so he could look after his family."
Hearts' wage "glitch" back in September, he insisted, pales into insignificance. "For the last game of the league season, we had to win to qualify for the Uefa Cup against Honved," added Laszlo.
"The distance between the grounds in the town is maybe eight kilometres, it is like a derby. No bus turned up when it should have. I had to stop a normal bus in the street and plead with the driver to take us to Honved's stadium.
"We got there at 2.30pm, people were wondering where we were and we turned up on a normal bus. We won the game 1-0. If you compare with this…"
After sampling what he describes as the "other side of life" in Africa as the national coach of Uganda, Laszlo moved to Edinburgh in the summer. Settled in the city with wife Mariana, the couple's two daughters, Larissa, five, and Patricia, 15, are also being educated here. It is a sign of Laszlo's much-travelled career that his elder daughter speaks four languages.
"I am very happy to be in Scotland," he insisted. "If somebody asked me ten years ago where I wanted to work, my first answer would be the UK. If I have the possibility, I want to stay here for a very long time. When I was young, nobody liked English football. I was the only one following Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town and Manchester City. I always looked for these teams; people asked me 'What?' and 'Who?', they were watching Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich.
"I don't know why, but I always preferred the football here. God has given me something small back by the possibility of coming to work in the UK."
• Hearts midfielder Laryea Kingston is set to make his comeback against Rangers at Tynecastle today after five weeks out with a thigh tear.
The Ghana international caused concern for the club when he made the 8,000 mile round trip to his homeland for a friendly against Tunisia last week, even though he was still hampered by a thigh problem and could not play, but is back in contention for a first team place today.
Winger Deividas Cesnauskis is also in contention for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash after returning to training following a thigh problem and striker Jamie Mole could feature after x-rays showed he did not break a bone in his foot. Midfielder Michael Stewart is still suspended.
The full article contains 901 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
