The Jambos will head back to the riches of European group stage football next season after a strong third place finish behind Celtic and Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. Steven Naismith and his troops will enter the Europa League play-off round but they have the parachute of Europa Conference League football in the bag - just like they had a couple of seasons back.
That alone brings millions into the club but chairwoman Budge has proven key in recent years at bringing outside investment to the club. The Gorgie outfit are keen to continue growing and expanding with approaches of fresh capital landing on the desk of the club in the past couple of months. The Foundation of Hearts would have a strong say in any deal as majority shareholders at the club, and directors are willing to think over proposals that come in the door if they are a benefit to the club.
“Previously, it was easy for me to just shut them off . I can’t do that any more. We’ve got to look seriously at anybody who comes forward. We would say no quickly if it’s an obvious non-starter, or ask them to give us their thoughts on why it would be good for the club. If that comes to anything, then we have to talk about it with our majority shareholders.”
Budge has stressed that offers Hearts have received so far have not been suitable or beneficial to the club. She added: “Over the last 10 years, I’ve lost track of the number of people who have contacted me saying they want to invest in the club or would like to buy a stake. It used to be very easy for me because I could say: ‘Sorry, I can’t do that. I have a legal agreement with Foundation of Hearts so the club is not for sale.
“When people come to us, we look at it. None of the people who have approached us to date offered anything better than we have already got. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t take investment but that would definitely be a board decision now and FoH would obviously have a big say in that.”