HEARTS finally paid their players the remainder of their November salaries yesterday and warned that no important senior squad members will be allowed to leave for free next month.

The delayed payment, however, is unlikely to deter PFA Scotland from making an official complaint to the Scottish Premier League on the players' behalf, on the assumption that December's salaries, due today, are not paid on time.

Meanwhile, a source close to the consortium interested in buying out the majority shareholding held by Vladimir Romanov has told Herald Sport that the group have already lined up "very strong" candidates for the roles of manager and director of football, should their takeover finally go through and the manager Paulo Sergio elects not to remain at the club.

"At least one of them is a name the fans will be delighted with," the source said. "As any deal is going to have to be completed fairly quickly, then any new owners are going to need to have a structure in place quickly too. So discussions are quite far down the line with regards to the key appointments."

PFA Scotland are expected to take a grievance to the SPL later today regarding the late payment of wages after receiving a letter of complaint signed by the Hearts squad. At that point the SPL board, due to meet on Monday, would decide what, if any, sanctions should be handed down to Hearts. Earlier this week the Swiss league deducted four points from Neuchatel Xamax for various offences including not paying their players, although it remains to be seen whether their Scottish counterparts would consider a similar punishment.

Fraser Wishart, the chief executive of PFA Scotland, said: "It is welcome news that the players have received part of the monies outstanding. The members have, however, mandated that, should they not be paid fully up to date [today], a collective complaint to the Scottish Premier League will still be lodged.

"We have a number of options open to us in terms of the law, in terms of football regulations in Scotland and football regulations abroad, within FIFA. But we have no wish to go down that line. The players want Hearts to survive and to flourish. But, if the wages are not forthcoming, the players cannot continue as is."

There had been a feeling that the players could invoke FIFA's Article 14 and break their contract "with just cause" next month, allowing them to sign for another club without a transfer fee being levied. In a strongly-worded statement released on the club's website yesterday, however, director Sergejus Fedotovas insisted that would not be allowed to happen.

"I can assure the fans that we have the plan to normalise the business at the club and we also know the rules and regulations – no player walkout will happen," he said. "No senior players that have value to this club will leave the club for free. The rest is a different story."

Fedotovas also tried to explain the delay in payment of wages and hoped that subsequent hold-ups would be "minimised". He added: "A very big part of Europe is in trouble now. Very many clubs do not pay their players' salaries for months. It is not an excuse; it is a consequence of economic reality. We have already done some business that allowed us to pay wages and tax this month and will allow us to minimise the risk of delays in the future."

Fedotavas also attacked critics of Romanov, insisting Scottish football would miss the Russian-born Lithuanian if and when he finally sold his shareholding. "I am not surprised that most 'experts' are looking for chances to profit from this situation by pretending they care about Hearts but in reality are disregarding the future of the club, making the club a victim of their personal crusade against a Russian businessman and creating an environment that lets them line their own pockets.

"Mr Romanov has been at Hearts for quite a while and, apart from help to sell Scottish papers, he has invested around £70m in the club, kept the club at Tynecastle and prolonged its history for at least seven years.

"Now he is leaving and without his help it will be much more difficult to make ends meet, or target the top of the league. People who are wrongly happy about it can pass on their thanks to the likes of Gary Mackay, George Foulkes, [Phil] Anderton, [Graham] Rix, [George] Burley and others that used the club for their personal agendas, pretending to be supporters of the club but in fact seeking supporters for themselves."