Despite stick, Ann Budge's legacy is as saviour of Hearts

The National

2 days ago

After an 11-year official association with Hearts, Tynecastle chair Ann Budge will step aside after the club's AGM later this year. Naturally, that has led to a poring over of her record at the club, and many a ponderance over what her legacy may well be among Jambos in years to come.
Perhaps the most telling clue as to what the answer to that question may be has come in the overwhelming outpouring of thanks that has been expressed since the news of her retirement broke on Monday.
For whatever opinions and dissenting voices there may be around the way that Budge ran the club, particularly over these past few years, the fact remains that without the intervention of the lifelong Hearts supporter, there was a very real possibility that there wouldn't be a club in Gorgie at all.
It is sometimes easy to forget just how stark the situation was at Hearts before Budge (and of course, the wider fanbase and the Foundation of Hearts) rode to the rescue.
The disastrous end to the chaotic Vladimir Romanov regime had left one of the game's great institutions on the brink. A creditor's meeting of his doomed Lithuanian bank Ukio Bankas had the potential to push them over the edge, despite the heroic efforts of The Foundation of Hearts and Budge's offer of £2.5m for the shareholding to parent company UBIG.
Scottish football's very own celebrity administrator Bryan Jackson spelled out the peril Hearts were in in no uncertain terms, calling it the worst situation he had ever encountered.
(Image: Ross Parker - SNS Group) 'We have to accept now that there is a threat of liquidation, and we are doing absolutely everything we can to avoid it,' Jackson said at the time.
'We need to look at 'can we fulfil fixtures until the end of the season?'
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'To do that I would obviously be looking for help from the footballing authorities for any outstanding monies which may be due to the club. Unfortunately, I would also have to go back to the fans and the Foundation of Hearts and make the usual appeal. I know supporters have been stung time and again, but I don't think there will be anywhere else for me to go.
'We can just about make it to the end of the month. And if it is negative news next week we would have to operate very, very quickly – because money would be running out at some pace.
'I can't employ people beyond the end of the month if I can't pay them.'
The only other people circling the club at that moment seemed to be doing so with vulturous intent. Former Livingston owner Angelo Massone, who took the Lions into administration previously, was among them. As too was retired shoe salesman Bob Jamieson, who was branded by a Foundation of Hearts spokesperson as 'a Walter Mitty character' who was indulging in an 'unfunded and fanciful rival bid' for the club. His plan included a proposal to move Hearts to a new stadium next to Murrayfield.
Mercifully, the Foundation and Budge were named as the preferred bidders after administrators BDO decided that the alternatives could not provide proof of funding, and the rest is history.
Has Budge got everything right? Absolutely not. While there are undoubtedly grumbles from certain, less enlightened sections of the Hearts support over a 'wummin' running their club, a lot of the criticism that she has attracted is not without merit.
On the football side, there have been highs and lows, but it is hard to shake the notion that Hearts have underachieved over the past decade or so.
(Image: SNS Group) A tendency to appoint people she is familiar with over the people who may be best suited for a particular role has drawn particular ire. Her close relationship with Craig Levein seemed to blind Budge to his own missteps, such as the appointment of Ian Cathro when he was serving as director of football, then inspired misplaced loyalty and far too much patience when he was also appointed as manager. See also the decision to later appoint Steven Naismith.
Off the park, the building of the new Main Stand at Tynecastle can on the one hand be seen as one of the crowning achievements of her reign. But on the other, the involvement of JB Contractors in its construction, a firm with familial links to Budge and who Hearts have handed over £9.1m to since 2016, raised eyebrows.
Indeed, the bungled delivery of the project, including Budge (initially) throwing herself on a grenade for chief operating officer Scot Gardiner after he seemingly 'forgot' to order the seats, became the stuff of infamy, and sparked pithy jokes this week over the issues Hearts may have now they are looking for a new chair.
In time, though, these issues will likely fade from memory. What will never be forgotten is that in Hearts' direst moment, Budge stepped up and saved the club. Without her, there seems little prospect that Hearts would have come from such that perilous position, a veritable financial basket case, to where they find themselves now – the biggest fan-owned club in the UK, stable, and with much to look forward to.
With the involvement of Tony Bloom, it feels like a natural time to have that break with the past and place the focus firmly on the future. But it is only because of Budge that Hearts have a future at all, and that will always be appreciated by every Jambo.
She may never be revered in the same way as playing legends like John Robertson, Dave Mackay, Gary Mackay or Alex Young, for example, but it could be argued that Budge was an even more important figure in the history of the club than any of those greats.
The naming of a stand after Budge may be a fitting way to mark her contribution. Even if, perhaps, someone else should order the new signage.