Chairman Roman Romanov SPL Fifth place | Stadium Tynecastle Stadium Scottish Cup Winners (vs Hibernian) | |
 | ||
Manager Jim Jefferies (Until 1 August 2011)
Paulo Sérgio (From 2 August 2011) Europa League Play-off round, lost to Tottenham Hotspur | ||
The 2011–12 season was the 115th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian. It is the 14th consecutive season of play in the Scottish Premier League in which Hearts have competed since its inauguration in 1998–99. Hearts also competed in the Europa League, Scottish Cup & the Scottish League Cup.
Contents
Season
Hearts finished fifth in the Scottish Premier League. They reached the Play Off Round of the Europa League, the third round of the League Cup and won the Scottish Cup after a 5–1 victory over Edinburgh Derby rivals Hibernian.
Management
Hearts started the season under the stewardship of Jim Jefferies but after only three games on 1 August 2011, he was removed from his post as manager by owner Vladimir Romanov. Jefferies was offered a new role at Hearts of Director of football which he turned down next day, marking his departure along with coach Billy Brown for the second time. Paulo Sergio was appointed as the new manager the same day.
Financial problems
The club began experiencing severe financial problems in November 2011 which meant they were unable to pay the players wages and the club was put up for sale. The squad's October salaries were late and the November wages were paid twenty nine days late just one day before their December salaries were due. The December pay has failed to arrive, and a complaint was lodged with the Scottish Premier League by the players union. During this period the club advised fringe players they were free to leave the club. On 4 January 2012 the SPL ordered Hearts to pay all outstanding wages by 11 January 2012 and January's wages must be paid on time on 16 January. Hearts paid all outstanding wages that day following the sale of Eggert Jónsson to Wolves. On 17 January the day after Hearts wages were due to be paid it was revealed all players had been paid. Despite this the SPL issued a statement saying Hearts had failed to pay all players on 16 January and an emergency board meeting had been called, Hearts refuted this saying payment of the remuneration had been made to all players. Hearts were charged by the SPL with failing to behave with the utmost good faith to the SPL. A hearing of the SPL Board sub-committee was held on 27 January, and the case against the club was dismissed as they believed the club were acting in good faith.
On 3 May, Hearts released their financial figures. Showing that they had made a profit of £511,000 and debt had been reduced from £36.1m to £24m. Hearts said that this had come down due to a debt restructuring plan. They also reduced operating costs by 19% to £3.63m and employment costs by 12% to £8.03m. Turnover at the club fell by £1m to £6.9m, this was mainly due to an outsourcing of retail merchandise as well as a lack of significant player sales or European competition.
Pre-season
Hearts returned for pre-season training on 22 June, before travelling to Il Ciocco in Tuscany for a week at their pre-season camp. Hearts returned to Scotland to play East Fife before travelling to Berlin to take on Ludwigsfelder and Union Berlin. Once back in Scotland they completed their pre-season taking on Cowdenbeath and Livingston before a glamour friendly at Tynecastle against Royal Antwerp, to contest for the Tynecastle 125th anniversary trophy.