Sedatives please, and plenty of them...

See? Just when you think it's safe to express even the tiniest little bit of joy, it all comes crashing right back down again around your ears. We barely had time to celebrate the win over Rangers before we received news that the wages issue had become even more bizarre and twisted, with the press indicating that the highest earners may have agreed to defer their wages until January and the win bonuses would follow on in 'due course'...whatever that means...

If her name alone isn't enough to leave people quaking in their boots, Jurga Chomskyte-McGeever is fast becoming the ominous Cruella de Vil of this horribly realistic pantomime. If the UBIG execs think these events to be of sufficient importance that they warrant comment from Lithuania, the very least they could do is take the time to come up with something better than: "It's merely a glitch. Everything is fine." The one thing that we had managed to work out for ourselves is that everything is very much not fine, and after months (years?) of overdosing on vague, we'd really be grateful if someone might take the time to give us something more factual than the convoluted smorgasbord of rumour and supposition that the local media serve to us on a daily basis.

While I refuse to be cajoled into fitful hysteria by the Daily Record's endless claims of outstanding bills, court cases, disconnected water supplies and poverty stricken den mothers, the Hibs fans' obsession with the cost of aluminium in Eastern Europe and falling UBIG share prices, or the News of the World's reportage on Vlad's transatlantic dealings with dodgy Russian oligarchs, everyone has their breaking point and mine is approaching at quite an alarming rate of knots.

On the face of it, you'd think everything was just dandy. Csaba continues to smile, crack jokes and neatly sidestep any probing questions relating to financial matters. Berra and Stewart have been wheeled out to confirm that the players agree. You would almost think it was business as usual if it wasn't for the fact that the papers are now also full of reports linking half of the squad with moves to the Premiership and the club website is carrying ready made CVs for Kingston and Driver on the front page. There's no doubting that certain members of the playing staff are destined for greater things, but since when were we awash with superstars? And they say Celtic are the PR gurus...

I have no idea what's likely to happen in coming weeks, but come the end of January, if I can look back on this blog entry and laugh I won't mind the blushes one little bit. It's good to exercise the cynicism every once in a while but to be honest, I'd really rather not think about any of it at all.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

So UBIG have ballsed it up again and are we really all that surprised? After a week of slightly grimy attempts by the media to upset and irritate those of a maroon persuasion, it was more disappointing than anything else to read on Friday evening that yet again, our players hadn't been paid on time. We all know that the tabloid press love nothing more than a juicy opportunity to stick the boot in, but what makes it even more galling is the fact that while we're griping about it we're also handing them the ammo.

But this isn't really the main issue. While one mistake can be passed off as an unfortunate incident, doing it twice crosses that line into behaviour that demonstrates more than a little lack of respect for our playing staff. I couldn't care less what the media have to say about it, nor would I lose any sleep over the raucous glee with which news of this type is met by our Leith dwelling rivals - but I do care about the effect this could have on our players.

This team has been putting the work in, there's no doubt about that. They've fought tooth and nail over the last few weeks to bring some positivity back to Hearts and each and every single one of them deserves credit for the rapid improvements that we've witnessed and enjoyed. It goes without saying that neglecting to pay any employee is intrinsically wrong, regardless of who they are or what job they do - but this lot could be easily be forgiven for feeling that their recent efforts have not been recognised or appreciated by their employers. People who, in the past, have vehemently extolled the virtues of respect and have openly crticised players for allegedly demonstrating less than honourable intentions towards their colleagues and the club.

UBIG and Vladimir Romanov - practice what you preach. Whatever this 'blip' is, get it sorted out - and show our players a little respect.

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