The 29th Annual General Meeting of The Heart of Midlothian Shareholders Association was held on Thursday 29 January with 98 members in attendance. Chairman Alex Gowans opened the meeting and in his annual review looked back at events that had taken place both on and off the field that had had an impact on The Association and the club. The Association had another successful twelve months with some memorable guests and evenings and the generosity of Members and guests in supporting fund-raising activities ensured that the club and their preferred good causes would benefit from another substantial donation. Jacqueline Dougan and Graeme Pacitti of Azure, caterers for the Gorgie Suite were given a special mention for their wonderful support throughout the year, they were always on hand to make sure every dinner went according to plan and presented to a very high standard.

Treasurer Bill Alves presented his report on the Annual Statement of Accounts to those Members present showing that even with several donations already made to Hearts’ good causes particularly the Education and Community Trust and the purchase of a public address system for the Gorgie Suite, The Association had a surplus of £5,000 during the financial year to 30 November 2008. It was put to the meeting and subsequently agreed by the Members to donate half of this sum to Hearts’ Academy to fund the purchase of a SMART Board interactive whiteboard and additional software for the video analysis system for use by all Hearts teams from the first team downward. A cheque would be handed over to John Murray, Director of the Academy in the near future. It was also agreed that the balance of £2,500 would be donated to the Heart of Midlothian Education and Community Trust. The Members accepted the Annual Statement of Accounts.

Graham Shaw was the only nominee for membership of the Executive Committee and was duly elected. Existing members standing for the Executive Committee were re-elected as follows:

In addition to their regular duties, the following Committee members also represent The Association at other Group meetings:

Alex and Bill: G10 Supporters’ Group,                Rab: Fans’ Forum,
Derek: Youth Development Committee,              Lisa: Supporters’ Trust,
Bill: Crowd Behaviour Committee.

It was agreed that there should be no change in the annual subscription to £12.00 and £8.00 for those aged sixty and over.

Jim Robertson was re-elected as auditor. Bill and Alex expressed their appreciation on behalf of the Members of his financial expertise and advice.

We were delighted to welcome our guest speakers Campbell Ogilvie Managing Director of Heart of Midlothian and non-executive director Sergejus Fedotovas who both talked about major issues concerning the club.

   

Asked about the effect of the ‘credit crunch’ on UBIG who were Hearts’ ultimate parent company Sergejus assured the membership that UBIG did not deal with the types of businesses in Western Europe who were caught up in the recession and had healthy prospects for the future . The company would continue to provided finance to Hearts and Vladimir Romanov had reiterated his long-term commitment to the club when he met with Sergejus recently.

Still on finance Campbell confirmed that the ratio of wages to turnover at Hearts was higher than it should be and the club was working to address this. The size of the playing squad was gradually being reduced with the longer-term emphasis very much on youth. The Academy was very important to the club and it was reaping the benefits of this policy as more young players stepped up to the first team squad.

Sergejus confirmed that work was continuing on the new stand and hotel and a progress report would be issued in April/May 2009. A partial revision of the plans as a result of more advanced and innovative building techniques had achieved efficiency savings and the original estimate of £50 million would be reduced. The complex was designed to be built together but the stand and hotel could also be constructed separately if necessary.

There was a concern about the fines accumulated by the club during the last three seasons as a result of player indiscipline. Campbell joked that the increases had coincided with his arrival at Tynecastle but agreed that it was an issue that must improve and this had been made clear to the players. The recent unjustified red card shown to Marius Zaliukas at Pittodrie has resulted in calls for the appeal procedure to be held in fairer circumstances and not just left to the referee to make a judgement on his own decision.

In response to a question about where Hearts would play their home ties should the club qualify for Europe, Campbell acknowledged that the fans wanted the matches played at Tynecastle but advised that the stadium was still not UEFA compliant for a number of reasons including; the size of the dressing rooms, lack of press facilities, some areas of seating. A UEFA delegation had visited the stadium earlier that week and the club were hopeful of a temporary relaxation in the criteria in view of the plans to redevelop the main stand.

Campbell and Sergejus went on to answer further questions on a variety of topics including: transfer window activity, the size of the playing squad, season ticket prices and the Cup Top-Up, crowd behaviour with particular concerns about increasing incidences of bigotry, televised matches and inconsistency in refereeing decisions.

Campbell ended by thanking The Association on behalf of the board for the continued support given to the club at all levels. The Association are grateful to Campbell and Sergejus for coming along to the AGM and addressing the Members.