Hearts are hit with record £40,000 fine for poor discipline
Lee Wallace was one of three Hearts players sent off in a stormy SPL clash against Dundee United in January
Published Date: 29 July 2008
By Ian Rodgers
HEARTS have been left reeling after the Scottish Football Association yesterday fined the club a record £40,000 for their poor disciplinary record.
The punishment, of which £10,000 is suspended, is twice the amount of the previous high which was also meted out to the Tynecastle club last year.
Hearts have now been reprimanded for four successive seasons by the governing body's annual disciplinary review, prompting the record punishment yesterday.
Hearts are not the only ones who will have to fork out, and the club's Edinburgh rivals, Hibernian, were penalised £10,000 – one of six senior Scottish clubs fined for their disciplinary records.
However, it is the record of the Gorgie side which attracted the most serious concern from the SFA.
Hearts received nine red cards and 81 cautions last season, while the Easter Road club accrued ten sendings-off and 76 yellow cards.
Former Tynecastle caretaker manager Stephen Frail had voiced his concern over discipline within the squad in the wake of the stormy Premier League defeat by Dundee United at Tannadice on 2 January, when Marius Zaliukas, Lee Wallace and Michael Stewart were all dismissed by referee Alan Freeland.
"Indiscipline has been inherently wrong for a long time at the club," Frail said after the game.
"Having no real leadership or a specific person in charge, it has been allowed to slip, and it is something that will need to be stopped as of tonight.
"I have been given the authority to pick the team, whether I am given the same authority over fining people when it comes to indiscipline I am hopeful, because that is a major factor of what is going wrong. We need to cut out petulance but they react to decisions where they think there is an injustice, especially the first sending off."
The game had been Frail's first in temporary charge of the team but there was an upturn in their disciplinary figures after the 4-1 loss on Tayside. Hearts earned far fewer cautions in the second half of last season, although that figure was not enough to prevent the SFA meting out yesterday's record fine.
The governing body's fine represents an increment in line with the club's disciplinary appearances in the last four years and, as such, is unlikely to perturb too many at Hampden Park.
However, already this pre-season, new Tynecastle manager Csaba Laszlo has identified a need for more discipline on the field from his players – this desire has now become more pertinent with the suspended £10,000 of the fine dependent on an improvement by the club before January 2009.
With Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov looking to reduce debt radically at the club, the fine – which stands to rise again if the Tynecastle side repeat their indiscipline for a fifth successive year – is an unwelcome appearance on the balance sheet.
Hearts are away on a pre- season tour of Germany, but there was no official word from Tynecastle with regard to the fine imposed yesterday.
While the capital clubs were hit with punishments, both Aberdeen and Falkirk were commended for their behaviour.
Outside the top flight, four league clubs were fined with Forfar being ordered to pay £4,000, a quarter of which is suspended. Clyde were hit with a £2,000 fine while Ayr United and Arbroath will pay half that sum. Dundee and Albion Rovers were warned over the future behaviour of their players.
that'll please Vampire Vlad , not another conspiracy
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