Hearts going bust might just mean we are safe this season no matter how we get on once all our players are fit. Players looking for a club after been disposed by Hearts, the high earners will go to England probably, or most of them, but will they end up fielding under 19s in games. 25 point deduction possible.

How many teams did Romanov try to buy before he got Hearts. Bet they are all glad they turned him down. Seem to remember Raith were one of the teams he tried to " save "

Hearts will not go bust altogether, no way, but they might end up in administration. Rangers are far more likely to go into administration, and this is when the likely punishment gets interesting.

Dundee were the last Scottish club to meet that fate, and only got a 25 point penalty, so I suppose that is the starting point.

The powers that be then have to consider that if Hearts go first, they would pretty much have to apply the same punishment to Rangers if they go next. Rightly or wrongly, there is a belief that "Scottish football needs Rangers" and needs them to be strong and successful, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got a sympathetic hearing, blaming it all on the previous owner, and get a penalty that might cost them the title, but still guarantees Rangers a European place.

So with that in mind, Hearts may well get away with less than a 25 point penalty, and having plenty of Edinburgh businessmen to step in, they would still be able to put together a team with a much bigger wage bill than us or Dunfermline and would therefore avoid relegation, particularly with the head start they currently have in the league table.

I don't understand the whole situation but 15 points of Dundee's penalty were due to who they owed money too. Apparently, Rangers are more likely to get the 10 point penalty but, as they owe money to their owner, get off with the 15 points. All above my head but what I've heard.

Dundee got 25 point penalty (and an embargo on signing players) instead of 10pts because it was the second time in 7 years they had gone into administration.

The statement at the time said "We are of the opinion that lessons are not being learned ... Clubs have to realise that they can't treat their Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs tax obligations as something akin to a credit card."

If Rangers and/or Hearts go into administration, I would imagine it would be the standard 10 point penalty and nothing as swingeing as Dundee.

Funnily enough, looking up Administration brought up an interesting wiki page showing dates, penalties applied (or not) and what seems to be a discrepancy between Scotland and England ... Clubs in England get a second penalty if they are still in Admin at the start of the next season, clubs in Scotland dont seem to suffer that fate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administration_%28British_football%29#Scottish_clubs_that_have_entered_administration

All goes to show that maybe we got beat last weekend by the potential champions of the spl !