If he had still been with us, Wallace Mercer would undoubtedly have called a press conference following the latest bulletin of financial woe from Tynecastle.
That was always the Mercer way.
He never shied away from the limelight, and always had something interesting, and usually controversial, to say.
It was claimed the former Hearts supremo didn’t carry an Organ Donor Card, but one saying to call a media gathering if anything happened to him.
Although Mercer sold Hearts to Chris Robinson in 1994, he still kept close tabs on the club until his sudden death in 2006.
He would be absolutely appalled at what’s happened to his beloved club.
And he would have blamed Robinson as much as Vladimir Romanov for the dreadful state the old Jam Tarts find themselves in at present.
When Mercer sold Hearts to Robinson, they were £5m in debt.
But there was already one new stand in place at Tynecastle, a second was close to completion while work had started on a third.
Yet when Robinson sold to Romanov in 2005, Hearts’ debt had more than trebled.
This was the same Romanov who had previously failed to gain a foothold in Scottish football at Dundee, Dundee United and Dunfermline.
None of those clubs could see what Romanov had to offer.
Mercer would also be utterly dismayed at the demise of the Scottish League after 123 years.
He was a very staunch supporter of that body from his first involvement with Hearts back in 1981, and proud to serve on the SFL’s Management Committee.
Although an innovator, Mercer was also a traditionalist.
He would not have advocated the end of the Scottish League, that’s for sure.
Mercer famously earned the wrath of Hibs fans when it was discovered he was trying to buy the then stricken Easter Road side in 1990 and amalgamate them with Hearts.
What the fans didn’t know at the time was that Mercer had been approached by influential Hibs supporters, who were extremely concerned the way their team was being run.
Eventually Sir Tom Farmer stepped in to save Hibs, but to this day many people don’t realise just how close they were to going under.
How Hearts in particular, and Scottish football in general, could do with an entrepreneur like Wallace Mercer today!
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