Dear Supporter,

It has been a privilege to serve on the board of directors at Heart of Midlothian Football Club for five years.

I have learnt a great deal of this club's remarkable history and tradition and I can tell you it only fuels our hunger to make Hearts a successful club, honest to its traditions as a unique and dynamic Scottish institution.

I want to make a number of important commitments in launching this year's campaign.

In particular I want to tell you that we will put every effort and penny we can into building a successful team under the guidance of Jim Jefferies.

We will continue to invest in the youth development using financial support provided to us by Mr Romanov and his company UBIG.

Our aim is to see Hearts taking the place of a top Scottish club, producing the best Scottish football talent.

Very importantly, I commit to you that we will improve the way we communicate, be more open and provide you with more opportunities as Season Ticket holders to meet key representatives of the club, to talk to them and to share ideas.

We will launch a monthly email from the club, written by senior personnel, including board directors such as myself, featuring the key areas they are responsible to give you a better understanding of what we are trying to achieve, and how we can do that.

Platinum Season Ticket holders will see the very popular "Football Management Briefing" increased to three times per season - one at the start of the year, around the turn of the calendar year and one at the end of the season. I can also tell you that senior club representatives will attend these meetings with Jim Jefferies and his coaching staff, and that at least once per season a representative of the board itself will attend as we did at this year's event in February.

There are other developments we plan, with a strong commitment that we'll communicate directly - not via the media - to our supporters. One I hope you will join us for is our new "Ask the Club" evening at Tynecastle.

We shall continue to work on Tynecastle re-development scheme in effort to give you better experience of games at the best stadium in Scotland, a home you can be proud of.

Running a football club is never an easy challenge. There are business needs to be taken into consideration, but also (and most importantly) there are supporter emotions to think about.

After five years we really do know the emotional and financial contribution you make to this club.

I know the team did not always please you this season, but you have stayed with the club, and I hope you understand that every failure brings change and improvement. This is always our aim.

You have stayed with the club during the most turbulent times and we will never forget that. The board shall continue to work to reward you for your loyalty and effort in supporting the club.

My directors and I very much hope we can welcome you back to Tynecastle for season 2010-11, a season that we hope will be full of expectation, joyful moments, hard work and improvement.

Yours in sport,

Sergejus Fedotovas
Director

>>> Click to download Sergejus' letter (pdf - 800kb)