Hearts 'comfortable' with finances as Budge exits

Heart of Midlothian decided to "invest heavily" in their squad this summer to reap early rewards from Tony Bloom's investment and have no fears about long-term finances as Ann Budge stands down as club chair, according to chief executive Andrew McKinlay.

Hearts recorded a loss for the last financial year of £400,000, with heavier losses being forecast for 2025-26.

But McKinlay spoke confidently about the Scottish Premiership leaders' sustainability after a tearful Budge made her last address in the chair at Hearts' annual meeting.

The businesswoman's investment helped save the club in 2014 and this summer she brokered the deal that led Brighton owner Bloom to pay £10m for a 29% stake in Hearts.

McKinlay stressed there are "no guarantees" about future donations from benefactors or fans but told BBC Scotland: "We knew the money was coming from Tony.

"It's very important for us to have it this year because we don't have European football. If we didn't have that money and we didn't have European football then we would cut our cloth accordingly."

The deal allowed Hearts to tap into Bloom's scouting system, which has already benefitted Brighton and Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise and helped Hearts to mount an early challenge to Celtic at the top of Premiership this season.

"You could also say we've taken a decision to invest heavily on the squad to make sure that the Jamestown Analytics gets off the ground as quickly as possible," McKinlay explained.

"Again, if we didn't have the money to do that, which hopefully we do with Tony, we just wouldn't do it. I'm very comfortable with the way we've spent our money.

"What we'll do going forward is we're expecting the whole player trading piece to get better and better and for that to be a big part of how we fund the club going forward."

Meanwhile, McKinlay paid tribute to Budge and says the board have had discussions about how her time at the club should be remembered, with one shareholder asking if the main stand could be named in her honour.

"I wanted the AGM to be about Ann and that's why we focused on the past more than the future in some ways," he added. "And it was about Ann, which is great and richly deserved.

"So there's been discussions with Ann on various things around the future, so I'm not in a position to say anything here and now, but we've done a few things for Ann, like her title and things like that, so we'll just see how things progress."