When Ann Budge met Tony Bloom as Queen of Hearts signs off happy - but she won't return to old seat

After nearly 12 years of being front and centre at Hearts, Budge is standing down as chairwoman. She assumes a new title of honorary club president and you will still see the 77-year-old at Tynecastle. But her job is done at Hearts. Mission accomplished. After all, she vacates her position with the team top of the Premiership.

It’s a far cry from 2014 when the Edinburgh businesswoman and the Foundation of Hearts rode to the rescue of the stricken Gorgie side, who had lurched into administration and were dicing with death. Budge only planned to stay for three years. She quickly realised Hearts was a long-term project.

“Everything about the club was kind of top-bottom,” Budge recalled of her first memories of being at Hearts. “On the playing side, they’d had such a tough time. We were trying to build a new team. That was all just starting to pick up. The staff had a tough time as well. The facilities were diabolical.

“I still remember these little boxes that were put on the floor to catch the mice and the rats and things. The morale was very bad. We didn’t really have, in my view, a proper structure, so there were lots of good people, some of whom are still here, but they weren’t really managed in any real sense of the word.”

Budge has pretty much seen it all at Hearts. Two Championship titles, relegation, pandemics, managerial sackings, cup finals, European trips and the handover of the club to the supporters. The most recent development is perhaps the most exciting, the arrival of 29 per cent shareholder Tony Bloom and his Jamestown Analytics database. With his assistance, Hearts have been able to challenge the Old Firm this season – with the goal to win the league in the next decade.

Bloom’s Hearts investment is so important

“The whole Jamestown and the Tony Bloom investment is so important,” explained Budge. “We were never going to be able to do it. If it’s all about money – who can throw more money at it – then you’re not going to get there because the gap is just too big. But you know what they say – work smarter, not harder. It’s the same principle. This is a fantastic opportunity for the club. I genuinely believe that it will take us to a new level.”

Budge met Bloom for the first time two years ago. “I was won over quite quickly,” she recalled. “I didn’t know who Tony Bloom was, you know, so I did a wee bit of searching online and whatever. I read the background, and I read a lot about gambling and so on and so forth. I thought: ’This is never going to work, given what I’ve been saying for the last ten years. There’s no way I can now do this.’ So I went down to London out of courtesy, curiosity, whatever, because it was a genuine approach, so of course I would go and talk to them.

“But by the time that first two-and-a-half-hour meeting was over, I was turned the other way. Because all the questions that you might have were answered, and there was professionalism. I felt there was value as well that I thought was right. They said all the right things. I’d asked James Anderson to come with me so we’d have two views, and he was equally bowled over. So when we presented to the board, you could see the doubt and a bit of sceptic negativity, I suppose. But very quickly, when people met, and we found out more about JTA and so on, that changed, and everybody realised this is a great opportunity and one we really can’t risk.”

Budge describes Bloom as a Jambo and “all-in” on the club. She wants Hearts to be regulars in Europe and challenge for trophies all the time. “People have said to me: ‘Oh, the one thing I’m sorry about, Ann, is you’ve not won the Scottish Cup or something’,” said Budge. “But I was never going to win it, it’s Hearts that would win it, and I’m still a fan so it’s not a big deal. I think we will be competing better as we move on.”

It is why she can move away happily – although she will remain in the directors box rather than back in her old seat in the Wheatfield Stand. “I’ve just realised there’s no way I would be able to climb these stairs,” she smiled. “My seat’s in row 23. I’ve got no chance. One of the questions at the agm this morning was, when is the board going to do something about putting rails in the Wheatfield Stand, because it’s a danger. I couldn’t agree more. I might have to do it myself before I go.”

Construction at Hearts is Budge’s legacy. The impressive Main Stand and the hotel are there because of her. At the agm, it was suggested it should be named after her. “I thought it was interesting,” Budge noted of the suggestion. “I looked to the board and they were all sort of sitting there. It’s very nice. People say these things, and that’s nice, but believe me, I have no aspiration or expectation of anything like that.”

Budge’s favourite away trip? “Probably Florence, if I’m honest, because everybody loves Florence.” Sacking managers will go down as moments of regret – “that was probably the hardest thing for me”.

Asked what she thinks her legacy will be, Budge paused. “I hope the people who work here look back on it as a good time,” she reflected. “This stand is huge, it’s there. I think they remember that. Others, I hope they remember that we came in and did things properly, you know, focused on quality, focused on integrity, focused on core values, really. And it paid dividends.”

Budge certainly leaves Hearts in a better place than she found it. Even if she faced criticism from some fans over the years, the standing ovation at yesterday’s agm was fitting. She will always be the Queen of Hearts.