Heart of Midlothian Football Club have announced that they will become Scotland’s first club to offer all staff at least the living wage. That means the least a Hearts employee can get an hour is £7.65, that’s a full £1.15 more than the current minimum wage.

The announcement has been well received from the clubs fans and anti-poverty charities. As a whole Scottish society should applaud this announcement.

As I have stated in previous blog articles, new Hearts supremo Ann Budge and her regime have been fantastic in setting Hearts in a new direction that will only make the club stronger. The club now listen to the fans and strive to do their upmost in holding strong values that everyone involved can be proud of.

In a her statement Ann said the following…

“Having reviewed the salary structure across all areas of the club, we propose to implement the nationally-approved Living Wage, across all staff, including part-time and contract workers. We have taken steps to register with the Living Wage Foundation thereby formalising our commitment.”

You can view the whole statement on the Hearts website, its well worth a look as Ann Budge shows other football owners how easy it is to communicate with the supporters.

Mrs Budge also has a rant against the use of flares inside football stadiums. I totally agree with her, it’s a deplorable habit that has been creeping into our game far too readily in recent seasons. She warns that the club has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to the use of flares and when the perpetrators are caught they’ll be banned from Tynecastle for life.

This shows that this new Hearts administration isn’t just keen on fan support, they will stand for no nonsense on the strong topics either.

Statements like these are a breath of fresh air and put most other teams in Scotland to shame, especially the Old Firm.

Rangers are once again in a bit of a financial mess, so probably can’t look to deeply at introducing the living wage without a more secure financial footing. But they could look at Hearts and see how fan involvement can enhance club morale and see what good PR is all about. You don’t need streams of press releases and statements to keep the faithful happy. Just have detailed, honest ones every so often!

Celtic have always seemed to be the fairest club in Scotland. Yet they’ve ignored the living wage debate for far too long. A core of the fanbase want it and as a PLC they should have at least looked into by this point and checked the feasibility of doing it. Taking a vote on the subject at the next annual Celtic meeting, is a bit too late in my opinion. As Scotland’s wealthiest club, founded in a bid to help the poor, Celtic owe it to their employees to pay them the living wage. It shouldn’t take Hearts to show them how it’s done on such an issue that has gripped Scottish society, especially with Celtic fans/shareholders demanding it for a few years now!

All Scottish clubs should be doing their best in curbing flare trouble and policing their away support more responsibly. Seats are being ruined up and down the country. What will it take for these fans to realise the dangers? A stadium fire? Clubs need to work better with the police and eradicate this problem!

Well done Hearts. After such a difficult period in your history your club are now flourishing on and off the park and leading by example for others to follow.

Posted on October 29th, 2014 by scott
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