Hearts had become so invested in chipping away at their 15-point deficit in the SPFL Premiership at the start of the season it had become hard to countenance that the club might come to feel any lower.
Yet they have reached the New Year as lowly as Scott Robinson after he has sat down in a deep hole, since the diminutive midfielder is one of only 14 outfield players left available from the first-team squad which began the season.
Even he will be missing in a fortnight as a result of suspension - the visit of Partick Thistle tomorrow prompting a quick head count at Hearts' training ground which reaffirmed the suspension of Jamie Hamill, while such as Danny Wilson and Jason Holt are suffering from illness and injury respectively. A registration embargo imposed as a consequence of administration has left the club's management team considering picking players aged just 15 or 16 to make up the numbers.
That would seem to do little to help Hearts' faltering chances of staying up in the top flight this season, but it has also done little to cool the temper of assistant manager Billy Brown. The 63-year-old is adamant that the transfer embargo on his club needs to be lifted or Scottish football will become a farce as the Tynecastle side are left utterly unable to field a "competitive" team.
"We know we had to be punished - but the punishment should come to an end now," said Brown. "We're going to get to the stage at this club where Scottish football's credibility is going to be put into question, because if we get another three injuries or three suspensions we're going to be fielding 15 and 16 year olds. You tell me if that's for the betterment of anybody. We should be allowed to sign players now.
"It's not a bluff, this. We have got about 14 outfield players to pick from at this club. What happens? Does anybody ever put in the papers the situation that's happening here, that we could come to the stage where we can't field a competitive team? The rules are in place. It's up to the people that run Scottish football to start making decisions that are correct. We've had our punishment - and it should be stopped now."
A caveat, of course, is that Hearts might struggle to coax more experienced players to the club were they able to, while the governing bodies would seem unwilling to make an exception either. "I don't think there's any chance of that," Brown added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article