Scot Gardiner has expressed sympathy for Hearts and urged his own club, Dundee, not to linger on what might have been should matters have come to a head sooner.

The Dens Park chief executive has heard manager John Brown rail against the timing of the decision to enter administration, claiming that the delay to receiving a 15-point deduction cheated Dundee out of their own top-flight status, but instead Gardiner insists he only feels sorry for the supporters.

"It's been the worst kept secret in Scottish football," he said. "It was a matter of time when it happened but there's still going to be an enormous amount of pain for those associated with the club which is never nice.

"I have a friend who is a director of the Foundation of Hearts and they held a meeting when they broke the news to the staff. He told me it was terrible because some of the young girls in the office were in tears at the prospect of losing their jobs. That's when reality hits home. It's happened to Dundee in the past so as a club we know how it feels. It's awful for the manager, players and fans who have to watch it happen."

John Robertson, a cherished figure at Hearts after spells as both player and manager, feared that this day would come despite endorsing a share issue last year, after receiving assurances that the club was on the road to self sufficiency. He is in no doubt that the scheme, which raised £1.05m, saved the club from this fate earlier but is gutted it has proved to be only a stay of execution.

"We were all told, come the end of the season, that the club would be self-sustainable and they'd be able to reduce the budget down to a level where the club could go forward and trade properly," he said. "But there seems to be one bill after another that's come out and the club's had to apply for administration."