Gary Mackay defends Hearts chair Ann Budge ahead of planned fan protests

Exasperated fans have arranged on social media to gather on the Tynecastle Plaza to vent their frustrations.

Gary Mackay defends Hearts chair Ann Budge ahead of planned fan protestsSNS Group

Gary Mackay has leapt to the defence of chairwoman Ann Budge as a section of Hearts supporters prepare to protest against the running of the club ahead of Thursday’s William Hill Premiership match at home to Motherwell.

Exasperated fans have arranged on social media to gather on the Tynecastle Plaza to vent their frustrations towards the hierarchy at a time when the Jambos are second bottom of the table.

Budge, who has been at the helm since rescuing Hearts from administration in 2014, has become the primary target of supporter ire as the club flirts with relegation again five years after dropping down to the Championship in 2020.

Record appearance holder Mackay – who led protests against former owner Chris Robinson two decades ago – agrees there needs to be a change in approach at boardroom level but remains adamant that 76-year-old Budge has done more good than harm to the club. The former midfielder has urged those who feel the need to protest to keep things “respectful”.

“I’m not sure if it’s the right time for a protest, but I understand people’s frustrations,” Mackay told the PA news agency. “I’m not completely in agreement with one or two contributors to social media in the way that they’ve gone about it.

“I don’t think that we can be going on just because there’s numbers that everybody’s in agreement on everything.

“I’m not in agreement with a lot of things at the football club, but what I do know was when I first approached Ann Budge more than 10 years ago, that Ann came in and saved our football club. Sometimes in football, people have short memories and we can’t afford to have that.

“We have to always have respect for what Ann’s done. Ann knows my feelings about one or two things in the football club and they will remain between Ann and I. I think she has made mistakes, but I think she’s always continued to try and learn from her mistakes. I will always support her.

“The protest has to be done in a respectful manner, because you’re looking at a building (Tynecastle’s main stand) that has been totally transformed during Ann’s time.”

While pointing out that “from a business perspective, we are in a better position than we’ve been for probably any time during our history”, Mackay admits he has “concerns” about Hearts’ lack of genuine football expertise at boardroom level.

He does not believe chief executive Andrew McKinlay – the most prominent board member and another target of supporter anger – possesses the “single-minded, ruthless” streak required for the role.

Mackay is also dubious about the process that led to the appointment of Neil Critchley as Steven Naismith’s successor in October, with Hearts claiming that the out-of-work former Blackpool and QPR boss was the standout candidate based on data from their new link-up with Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics.

“The lack of clarity (around Jamestown) worries me,” he said. “Neil applied for the job, and then he was the best of the candidates from within the data, apparently. No disrespect to Neil, but what you’re doing then is getting people who are going to apply for the job, but guys that are being successful at other football clubs at that particular time won’t be on that list, because they can’t apply.

“I’ve met Neil, he’s a lovely lad, and he’s been very unfortunate to come in at a difficult time. But you’ve then appointed someone who’s out of work when there were other candidates that were in jobs. That probably goes back to where we are as a board – is that laziness?”

Mackay also called on supporters to stop lashing out at the hierarchy of Foundation of Hearts, the fans’ group that has become majority shareholder of the club. He expressed sympathy for founding member and ongoing volunteer Garry Halliday amid the barrage of criticism being aimed at FoH by some fans.

“The person I really feel sorry for at this moment in time is Garry Halliday,” he said. “The amount of nonsense written about what goes on at the Foundation of Hearts, it’s just complete and utter drivel.”

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