GREEN MSP WELCOMES PROGRESS ON HEARTS FAN-OWNERSHIP
Lothian's Green MSP has welcomed the news that fan organisation Foundation of Hearts has been granted preferred bidder status by the club's administrators.
The Greens are proposing a new law to give football fans the right of first refusal when clubs come up for sale. The party hopes to use the forthcoming Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill to extend right to buy rules, which already exist for rural land.
Lothian Green MSP Alison Johnstone said:
"This is great news for Hearts fans and for Edinburgh, and confirms that the Foundation of Hearts have put together a financially robust bid, the best solution for the club's long-term prospects on and off the park. There's still a long way to go, though, and a lot of hard work still to be put in by the Foundation and by the fans themselves before a new day can dawn at Tynecastle.
"Greens will be bringing forward some changes to the law later this year to ensure fans would always get first refusal over Scotland's clubs in situations like this, proposals which would have put the Foundation at the front of the queue automatically. They've got there without that help, but I'd urge all fans of football, not just Hearts fans, to support both those changes and this extraordinary bid."