Foulkes: Hearts move inevitable

Hearts chairman George Foulkes revealed the Edinburgh club will stay at Tynecastle for one more year – but insisted the club’s long-term future will be away from Gorgie.

The cash-strapped Jambos will play their Bank of Scotland Premier League, Tennent’s Scottish Cup and CIS Insurance Cup games at Tynecastle next season and have agreed with the Scottish Rugby Union to lease Murrayfield for UEFA Cup home games subject to the approval of the Scottish Football Association and the European football authorities.

Foulkes is hoping the extraordinary general meeting in the summer will rubber-stamp the board’s proposal to sell Tynecastle next year to help pay off debts and the chairman is hoping a location for a new ground will have been found by then.

But Foulkes is adamant that the proposal by businessman Peter McGrail to build a new ground close to the present stadium is a non-runner.

He said: “If anyone comes up with a plan to stay here without losing money year by year – which has been crippling the club the last few years – then certainly we would look at it but I am not holding any great prospects of it happening.

“In the meantime, playing at Tynecastle for next season will give us a breathing space to look at all the options.”