ANN Budge's father James, a dock worker from Leith, was a Hibs fan and for the next three weeks at least she will be too.

 

The Hearts owner, whose mother Esther and other siblings all owed their allegiances to Tynecastle, touched base with the Easter Road club's chief executive Leeann Dempster prior to getting involved in football and the sense of hands across the Edinburgh divide has continued ever since. While Rangers making it back to the Scottish Premiership this season would give the SPFL four lucrative Old Firm matches to market to broadcasters, Budge wants the capital to thrive.

"From a Hearts perspective, it is better if Hibs win the play-offs," said Budge. "We would have the derbies and that's a big thing for Edinburgh. It would be great to continue having them.

"I have a soft spot for Queen of the South because they have been brilliant this season and have given the top teams a hard time. After what Rangers have been through in recent years you can't but hope they can move things on positively. But, if pushed, Hibs coming up suits both Hearts and the city of Edinburgh better."

Budge has been a breath of fresh air since taking ownership of the Gorgie club and there has been a clamour, at least partially fuelled by director of football Craig Levein, for the 67-year-old to involve herself in a more strategic fashion in the running of the overall game.

She has already had a seat on the soon-to-be revamped SFA council, and is set to be involved in a working group on fan ownership, but a seat on the SPFL board could be harder to achieve. Eric Riley of Celtic, Duncan Fraser of Aberdeen, and Stephen Thompson of Dundee United have the three Premiership posts sewn up, but getting a seat on the board is of less importance to Budge than making the decision process less of a closed shop.

"No-one has ever said this to me but I know some people must say 'God, she's only been in the game five minutes, what makes her think she can do this or say that?'" said Budge.

"And they're right to do so because a lot of them have a lot of history. But what I can do is maybe not so much ask new questions, but revisit things which were discussed before.

"There are all kinds of rules and regulations about how many and when [getting on to the SPFL board], and to be honest I haven't checked. But I don't think it's about being on the board really. There are two things we need to address - improving communication generally, and improving consultation generally, rather than turning up to a meeting and getting some sort of resolution put on the table when it's essentially the first time you've seen it. That's not good for anyone."

Budge denies any personal issue with SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster, but she has already helped force the league into one climbdown over the proposed timing of their final-day meeting with Rangers, and sympathises with the position of the Ibrox club over the play-off season ticket row.

"I phoned Neil when the Hearts v Rangers fixture was changed and we had a long conversation about it," she said. "I asked to understand why those decisions were being made. We had two or three conversations and, obviously, the outcome for us was satisfactory.

"I don't have any issue with any individuals. I don't know these individuals."