After looking good for a second third place finish in succession, Hearts now have a major fight on their hands with Aberdeen moving just one point behind them in the table.
A 10 point gap has been whittled down after four defeats in their last five league games for the Jambos, and the revitalised Dons have taken full advantage under interim boss Barry Robson.
They are now set to battle it out over the last eight games to land the lucrative Europa Conference League group stage spot, assuming Celtic or Rangers win the Scottish Cup. St Mirren are only four points behind, while Hibs and Livingston on 40 and 39 points respectively. However, they’re immediate focus will be securing a top six berth. Do that though, and they’ll still find themselves in the mxix for European qualification, with fifth place coming into play should the Scottish Cup head to Glasgow.
Whist punters love looking out the passports for Euro adventures, club officials will be rubbing their hands given the financial rewards on offer. Hearts enjoyed their most lucrative campaign ever this season after being drawn in Group A alongside Istanbul Basaksehir, Fiorentina and RFS. That was despite missing out on even more cash after a Europa League playoff defeat to FC Zurich.
A £200,000 parachute payment helped ease that particular blow, before a £2.6million automatic participation payment was secured. Home and away wins over Latvians RFS saw them pocket £875,000 in prize money and gate receipts from the matches at Tynecastle generated around £2million.
Whoever finishes as best of the rest this season can expect to make around the same, so anything between £2.5million to £3million. Given the £5million loss reported by Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack, that would be a welcome boost off the pitch.
From a Hearts perspective, another Euro campaign would put them in an even stronger financial position at the expense of one of their direct rivals, on top of an already increased player and recruitment budget, with the aim of regular European qualification.
They’ll have to arrest their current slump in from quickly, however. And a Gorgie showdown with the Dons after the split looks increasingly key to deciding who will be jetting off to the continent come August.
READ NEXT:
