NEW Foundation of Hearts chairman Brian Cormack insists he will make it one of his priorities to try to make the fans group even bigger.

Cormack, who was already a Foundation and Hearts director, has been named as Ian Murray's successor after the MP stepped down due to his political commitments.

The Foundation joined forces with Ann Budge to take Hearts out of administration last summer and will eventually take full control within four years.

FoH are currently backed by around 8,100 fans making monthly donations, which are then channeled to the club, but Edinburgh businessman Cormack hopes they can persuade more supporters to sign up.

He said: "I hope I can continue the good work the guys have done. We had Ian Murray for the last two years and Alex Mackie prior to that. They've both done a fantastic job

"We've got two main objectives going forward. One is to maintain or increase the pledges.

"We have 8,100 just now and I'm delighted with that. We've actually gained pledges since February when we introduced the fans rewards.

"I'd love to push to 10,000 and I don't see why we can't do that given that we've got around 12,500 season ticket holders.

"If we can get up to 10,000 we could put another £2 million into the club in the next four years. That's massive."

Cormack, who is one of the Foundation's founding members along with Mackie, Garry Halliday and Jamie Bryant, added: "The other objective is to work with the club to work out a proper governance model for fan ownership for when we eventually take over.

"We have to research all types of fan ownership but we're moving forward on a safe pathway for the next four years, so we can plan it properly."