Hearts are looking to their fans to help secure the future of the club. Like many before them, the Tynecastle club are offering fans the chance to buy shares in their club. The Scottish Cup winners claim that - if fully subscribed - the share offer, which opens on Saturday, could raise up to £1.79million with supporters taking control of 10 per cent of the club's shares. Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas believes the offer could lead to full supporter ownership in future. St Mirren and Motherwell fans are currently in the process of working to secure such status for their clubs and city rivals Hibs, after mismanagement during the late 1980s, also attempted to tempt fans with the offer of being part owners of their club. Rangers are also currently looking to raise revenue of around £20m with a share issue. Hearts target may not be so ambitious but Fedotovas would be delighted if the share issue were to be fully subscribed. He said: "It is a very important moment in Hearts' history where supporters are invited to express their interest and secure the future of the club. Now Hearts needs its supporters more than ever and we count on this appeal being heard and supported. If this first share offer is successful we believe that future proposals could be considered that may eventually allow for Hearts supporters to take over the club entirely. Every pound raised by supporters, after costs, will be reinvested into the club and we expect that this will be a popular offer." Hearts have not had the best of weeks off the field with the SPL issuing a player registration embargo of 60 days, until 23 December, after the club admitted failing to pay all of their players and staff on schedule for September and October. Majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov runs a tight ship and has already said he is not willing to continue pouring money into the cub. He has said he is disillusioned with football and wages were delivered late four times last season. The share offer opens on Saturday morning, ahead of the SPL game with Ross County at Tynecastle and revenue will be used "in meeting general working capital requirements". In a statement, Hearts said: "UBIG, the Lithuanian conglomerate chaired by Vladimir Romanov and the majority shareholder in Hearts, has approved the offer by the 2012 Scottish Cup winners that could see the supporters of the club control over 10 per cent of the total shares. The share offer is the first that provides supporters at Hearts with a chance to invest in the club since the takeover by UBIG in 2005. One of the key areas for the funding will be to meet the club's continued focus on developing the best young players to reach the highest levels in the game. Revenue raised will also go, as required, in meeting general working capital requirements." The fans have to 19 December to take up the offer, with Hearts suggesting shareholders could benefit from free tickets, discounted season tickets, priority bookings, event discounts, signed merchandise and hospitality offers. Hearts reported they currently have more than 4,000 ordinary shareholders and over 8,500 season ticket holders, while the Scottish Cup final win over Hibs attracted a celebratory crowd in west Edinburgh of 100,000 people backing the oft quoted suggestion that they are the third force in Scottish football.
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
