ANN BUDGE, the owner and chairwoman of Hearts, has vowed to step up her campaign against supporters shaming the club by committing additional finances to police, stewarding and surveillance at Tynecastle.
Budge banned 10 fans following an attack on a Ross County supporters’ bus in October and has been dismayed by fighting which took place around the stadium before, during and after the side’s recent 6-0 win over Motherwell.
She has also been appalled at reports of abuse received by Mixu Paatelainen, the Dundee United manager, during his side’s visit there at the end of December and insists she will not tolerate such conduct at the club.
“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,” she said in an official statement. ”Instead of talking proudly about the team’s superb performance or, indeed, our supporters’ unprecedented loyalty - 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-£50,000.
“Apart from the reputational damage that this behaviour causes the club, its employees and its supporters, this is £40,000-£50,000 that we cannot put towards our stadium and facilities improvements programme.
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.
“Many of you will have seen in the media that Hearts is under formal investigation because of a number of incidents that took place during the recent Hearts v Dundee United fixture.
“I will, of course, robustly defend the club’s position on this matter, but there is one area which I cannot defend. In particular, it would appear that excessive verbal abuse was directed at the opposition manager.
“While the manager (Mixu Paatelainen) was both understanding and pragmatic in his acceptance that “this happens”, it has been reported by the match delegate that this reached unacceptable proportions. As a consequence, additional stewarding will be put in place in this area of the stadium, along with video cameras, and any behaviour of this nature, in future, will be robustly dealt with.”
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