ANN Budge has vowed to “clamp down” on misbehaving Hearts fans after revealing that fighting at this month’s clash with Motherwell has forced the club to spend an extra £50,000 on security and policing at Tynecastle.
The Hearts chief executive also condemned the supporters who it has emerged abused Dundee United manager and former Hibernian player Mixu Paatelainen to such “unacceptable proportions” the club are now the subject of an SPFL investigation.
In a half-yearly update, Budge hit out at the behaviour of a “tiny minority” she admits are damaging the reputation of the Gorgie club because of repeated incidents and revealed that police had to be called for the third time this season when brawling broke out between rival fans outside Tynecastle before and after Hearts’ 6-0 victory over Motherwell.
In October, Hearts apolog-ised to Ross County and released a statement condemning the behaviour of supporters after a bus carrying County fans was allegedly attacked outside Tynecastle.
Following meetings with the authorities in the wake of the most recent disorder, Hearts have been forced into accepting they are now unable to host matches without a police presence, with Budge confessing the money spent on policing will have to be diverted from work to improve the stadium. “We have made it clear over the past 18 months that unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated by the club and have indeed gone so far as to ban a number of our supporters from the stadium,” she said.
“We have stressed repeatedly that we want Tynecastle to be a family-friendly stadium, where all supporters can come and enjoy the atmosphere in one of Scotland’s most iconic stadiums, in a safe and care-free environment.
“It was, therefore, with much regret that, for the third time this season, we had to call the police – in this case to the Hearts v Motherwell game – due to rival fans fighting in the streets, in the immediate environs of the stadium, both before and after the game.
“I cannot begin to tell you how angry this makes me, when we are working so hard to put the club back at the heart of the community.
“Instead of talking proudly about the team’s superb performance, or indeed our supporters’ unprecedented loyalty [following] yet another home sell-out, I am instead having to hold meetings with the authorities regarding how we are going to address this behaviour problem.
“The outcome of these meetings is, quite simply, that we have had to agree that we will have no police-free matches between now and the end of the season. This will cost the club between £40,000 and £50,000. Allowing a tiny minority of supporters to bring the club’s reputation into disrepute is something we will not tolerate. We will be clamping down on supporters who behave unacceptably. This will mean more stringent checks and more surveillance both inside and outside the stadium.”
A formal investigation has been launched to look into “unacceptable conduct” at Hearts’ 3-2 win over Dundee United last month. Budge has promised to “robustly defend” the club but said she could not excuse fans who directed abuse at Paatelainen and that anyone found guilty of similar incidents in future would be “robustly dealt with”.
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