NOT being involved in the running of Hearts on a daily basis in the last few months or so has allowed chairman Ann Budge to pursue some of her other interests.
“I have a bit of a track record of buying properties, knocking them all to bits and refurbishing them,” she said after attending the Tynecastle club’s AGM earlier this week.
“Just before I bought the club, I bought my house in West Coates and totally gutted it. It took three-and-a-half years. This was my project to keep me busy. I am now doing the same thing with flats I've got at Murrayfield.”
Budge, who handed over her majority shareholding to the Foundation of Hearts back in August, believes the ground work which she has laid during the past eight years will, regardless of how stormy the conditions outside get, stand firm.
With over 8,000 supporters now signed up to the foundation and making monthly donations which bring in around £1.5m every year, they are the largest supporter-owned club in the United Kingdom.
The businesswoman, who stepped in to pick up the pieces after the catastrophic Vladimir Romanov era in 2014, knows from personal experience that both on and off field fortunes can change very quickly in football.
However, she is, even during a cost-of-living and energy crisis, relaxed about what the future holds.
“I can’t really think of any down sides, not at the moment,” she said. “We all know when things are going well nobody ever has real problems. If things were to turn for whatever reason then we might have a slightly more vociferous supporter.
“That’s when we’ll know if this model is solid and sustainable. Until we have some kind of difficult situation, it’s difficult to know. But can I anticipate a time when it does work? I don’t really think so. When the fans were unhappy before we tried to take it into account. We know what the fans are saying.
“The key is that we have a strong board and that includes Foundation of Hearts representatives. If we have that, we genuinely can focus on making the best long-term decisions.”
The former Entrepreneur of the Year certainly feels the structure in place at Hearts is preferrable to having, like the majority of cinch Premiership clubs, a wealthy owner on whose benevolence their fortunes hinge.
“It has all been about individuals throwing their money at it,” she said. “They get to a certain level and say: ‘Hang on! How much more money am I putting in here?’ This ownership model is not down to one person, it is not down to one body, it is down to a whole host of things.
“We have got benefactors who are incredible, we have got supporters who are incredible, we have got a really strong management team, we have got a pretty clear strategy.
“I imagine there will be a lot of football clubs at the moment who are thinking: ‘How on earth are we going to cope for the next couple of years? Our supporters aren’t able to support us’. It is a dreadful situation to deal with.
“But because of our model I don’t have the same fear. Our supporters know we will do our best to help them in the same way that they have done their best to help us over the last however many years it’s been. I don’t think I am being naïve. The model will support us, not so-and-so putting more money in. It will stand us in good stead moving forward.”
Having James Anderson, the Edinburgh-based fund manager who hit the headlines when he donated over £3m to Scottish football during the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, alongside her on the Hearts board as a non-executive director make Budge confident they can build on the progress which has been made to date.
“We all know what his background and his experience brings to the table,” she said. “He is very ambitious and he constantly pushes. Do you want to do that? Why not twice that? Why not go for something a bit bigger?
“That is good, it is good for the board. Initially, it was all about survival. Then we were beginning to get on the right track. Then of course the wheels fell off with what was going on (Hearts were demoted to the Championship when the Premiership was curtailed following a controversial SPFL vote in 2020).
“But I think we were ready to go again. Having that ambition and not worrying every day if we are going to be able to pay the bills this month is great. He encourages that kind of thinking.
“James is very quiet. In meetings he will listen. The only thing he really challenges is ‘are you thinking big enough?’. He is used to new ideas coming to fruition and really taking over. So, no, he is a big figure in the sense that we all value his opinion.”
Budge will continue to be involved. She is overseeing the construction of a hotel at Tynecastle and is contributing to the plans for the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2024. But she has no desire to immerse herself in the daily affairs of Hearts and sees no good reason to.
“I am delighted it's no longer 24/7 because believe me it was for a long time,” she said. “I could never just have stopped and walked away and thought: 'Thank goodness that's over'. That would never have worked. It's not a bad halfway house.
“I don't know everything that's going on any more and that sometimes annoys me. So it can be a wee bit frustrating sometimes. But overall it works well.
“Yes, it has changed and on balance it has changed for the better from my lifestyle point of view. It's the right thing moving forward. It had to happen sometime and now we are doing it over a nice period of time.
“I am committed to staying on until around AGM time in 2024. Partly it's to do with health, I am not getting any younger and I couldn't do the 24/7 I did before. I couldn't do it and I wouldn't want to. But will I ever not have some sort of involvement? I can't imagine that.”
