Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay shares how he feels about ‘sack the board’ protests and abusive chants

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Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay has delivered his quarterly update to fans about a whole range of current affairs concerning the club.

The Jambos have endured a rocky season to date with the sacking of Steven Naismith, the struggle to move away from the relegation zone in the Premiership and the disastrous failure to qualify for the Europa Conference League play-off stage.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
10	Ross CountyRoss County	23	6	7	10	23	42	-19	25
11	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	23	6	6	11	25	31	-6	24
12	ST JohnstoneST Johnstone	23	4	3	16	25	47	-22	15

And while there has been an upturn in form recently under Neil Critchley, many Hearts fans remain unhappy with the club’s board and the direction they are taking the club in.

Chants against Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge were heard during the Petrocub draw, while ‘sack the board’ posts have been shared across social media.

The Gorgie Ultras staged a no-show protest in the game against St Johsntone while a protest was planned by fans ahead of the Motherwell game on January 2.

• READ MORE: Neil Critchley hints Hearts star could play first minutes since March vs Brechin City

Andrew McKinlay on Hearts fan protests and abuse

McKinlay has now addressed these issues and admits he doesn’t have a problem with fans expressing their views about the current Hearts regime.

But what he feels crosses the line is verbal abuse directed at individuals from the stands and it said it cannot be accepted in any walk of life, not just in football.

McKinlay claims that he understands many supporters are frustrated but he is pleading for everyone to come together in a message of unity.

McKinlay said: “I think my first message would be more general. We are very fortunate that we live in a country where you can protest and you’re allowed to protest, so I will always uphold people’s rights to protest.

“I have no issue with people singing sack the board either if that’s what they feel. That’s a common thing for football fans to sing when they’re not happy with things at a club.

“What I don’t think is appropriate or should be tolerated is singing about individuals in an abusive manner or being abusive to any individuals to their face or otherwise.

“I just don’t think that that is appropriate. It wouldn’t be accepted in any other area of life and it shouldn’t be accepted within football.

“I totally get the frustrations of the fans. We were all frustrated. You’ve just heard how I felt after Petrocub and other games. We’re all Hearts fans. We’re all in this together and we all need to try and come together.

“But as I said at the beginning, it’s people’s right to protest and if they wish to do so then I’m certainly not going to criticise them or tell them that they shouldn’t do it.”

McKinlay on Hearts form

As touched upon above, Hearts have managed to quell some fan frustrations of late by going on a four-game unbeaten run which has produced two wins.

McKinlay is happy with the upturn in results, but could not go without mentioning the dismal derby defeat to Hibs among other disappointments at the end of the year.

The CEO is hopeful, however, that with new signings in January and the return of Lawrence Shankland from injury, Hearts will become get stronger.

He said: “We’ve had some games that I think we’ll all look at that have been really disappointed. Obviously the Derby, Kilmarnock away, I suspect you might touch upon Europe in a second.

“I think we’ve all been really pleased though since the Derby how we’ve played. There’s been two injury times that I wish we could have over again. We should be sitting here with four clean sheets and four wins, but we’re not. We move on.

“It’s not just the scores, it’s the manner of how we’ve been playing. I think everyone would acknowledge that we’ve looked much better.

“I think with some of the new signings coming in we’ll get even stronger. I’m hopeful with Lawrence coming back that he will regain some of his Midas touch for the rest of the season as well.”