Torres' departure to a rival club saw him break the hearts of Liverpool fans. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE METRO.
Graeme Jones sat down with Hearts TV on Tuesday for almost 14 minutes, but one moment from that interview left many supporters seething with anger.
The Gorgie sporting director delivered 18 words about the Lawrence Shankland break clause situation that immediately drew fierce criticism from those connected to the club.
Those words were: “I defy anybody to push back against the fact that it was the correct decision for the club.”
The reason Hearts fans have watched their best player, top goalscorer, and captain walk out the door to join a main rival on a free transfer comes down to a failure of respect.
That lack of respect stretches back considerably further than last summer, when Shankland was able to demand anything he wanted, including the now infamous 12-month exit option, just to sign a new deal.
Jones only took up his role last summer, and Derek McInnes walked into a situation where it looked like Shankland was already heading for the exit before doing everything possible to keep him.
Neil Critchley was in charge during the earlier period and made the decision to move a player who had scored 30 goals the previous season into what was essentially a midfield role.
Chief executive Andrew McKinlay said in September 2024: “We would obviously want to keep Lawrence, but it would have to be at the right level for us. We can’t go smashing our own wage structures. People don’t realise that if you do that with one player, you’ll have others knocking on the door.”
But Shankland is not an ordinary player, having been the talisman who dragged Hearts to new heights and delivered a season that took the club to within a whisker of a first league triumph in 66 years.
Offering a three-year deal with a one-year exit clause was arguably worth taking to keep him, but better treatment earlier might have prevented the situation ever reaching that point.
Fans were led to believe Shankland would be at Tynecastle for the long term, and discovering he had departed for Ibrox within days felt like a genuine slap in the face to many supporters.
Jones also addressed Cammy Devlin’s contract situation during the interview, saying: “I would hope that we will have some form of closure in respect of him staying or leaving in the coming week or so.”
Devlin has a major shop window approaching at the World Cup and, if he performs well, will likely attract plenty of offers from elsewhere, making his departure difficult to rule out.
Beyond the Shankland situation, Hearts have also allowed Beni Baningime and Frankie Kent to leave, while Craig Halkett faces long-term injury and Marc Leonard has also departed, stripping the squad of significant backbone.
There are also concerns that bids could arrive for player of the year Claudio Braga, potentially compounding what is already a difficult summer in Gorgie.
All of this is unfolding with less than 50 days remaining before Hearts must be ready for their opening Champions League qualifier, their first European campaign of this kind in 20 years.
McInnes will be expected to take the title fight all the way again while also navigating demanding European fixtures, a challenge that will require significant and swift recruitment to address.
Rather than excitement building around Gorgie ahead of fixtures against the likes of Fenerbahce or Sturm Graz, the overriding mood among supporters right now appears to be one of anxiety and unease.
What the club’s fans deserve, given their enormous investment and passion, is at the very least an apology for how the Shankland affair has been managed and communicated.
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