We are...

We are..

The Foundation of Hearts (FoH) is the most successful supporters’ movement in Scottish footballing history. The organisation was created in 2010 by five lifelong Hearts supporters – Jamie Bryant, Brian Cormack, Donald Ford, Garry Halliday, and Alex Mackie, and we currently have more than 8000 members (now owners) who contribute financially to FoH. These contributions are used to provide working capital for the club we support and love, Heart of Midlothian.

The Foundation played a key role in saving the club when it fell into administration in 2013. That year, it was joined by all the Hearts supporters’ organisations – the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs, the Heart of Midlothian Shareholders Association, the Heart of Midlothian Supporters’ Trust, Hearts Youth Development Committee (HYDC), and Save Our Hearts. Under the chairmanship of Ian Murray MP, this united group worked under the Foundation of Hearts ‘banner’ to take forward the vision of fan ownership.

In 2014, one of the Foundation’s own team, Ann Budge (through her specially created company, Bidco), successfully acquired the majority shareholding of the club. An agreement was put in place between Bidco and the Foundation to deliver fan ownership via the Foundation. Doing so allowed the club’s finances to be stabilised and an orderly transition to supporter ownership to be organised. Bidco’s sole purpose was to deliver fan ownership and it therefore sought to make no personal gain through the process.

The club exited administration in June 2014 with no money in the bank, and on day one, with Ann Budge as club CEO and chair (and in line with the agreed business plan), the Foundation injected almost £1 million of essential working capital. Over the following years, funding has continued to be provided, including a £3 million contribution to the Tynecastle Redevelopment Project (whose main focus was the new main stand), a contribution which was voted for overwhelmingly by the Foundation members.

The continued funding from the Foundation saw the loan of £2.5 million from Bidco (1874) Limited repaid. This was the final step in the transfer of the majority shareholding in the club to the supporters, with the Foundation receiving a 75.1% holding in August 2021. This momentous development, marked with a formal signing ceremony between Ann Budge and Foundation chairman Stuart Wallace, resulted in Hearts becoming the largest fan-owned club in the United Kingdom.

We are delighted to have worked closely with Ann Budge and her team over the years to pave the way for fan ownership at Tynecastle, and we acknowledge the extraordinary commitment, breadth of skills, and new values which she has brought to the club. Her initiative has been a breath of fresh air in the Scottish football scene.

FINALLY, NONE OF THE FOUNDATION INITIATIVE WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE INCREDIBLE DEDICATION AND DETERMINATION – DEFYING SCEPTICS AND NAY-SAYERS AT EVERY TURN – OF THE MAGNIFICENT SUPPORTERS OF HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN FOOTBALL CLUB. THEIR COMMITMENT AND THEIR PASSION CONTINUE TO DRIVE THE CLUB FORWARD.

MEET THE DIRECTORS

Gerry Mallon

Chair

Gerry, who became chair of the Foundation in 2022, is chief executive of Tesco Bank and is a member of the Tesco plc executive committee. He served as Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council at the University of Ulster and President of the Institute of Banking in Ireland, and recently completed a six-year term as chairman of the Irish Football Association. Gerry holds an economics degree from Cambridge University and received his MBA from Ulster Business School.

GARY LOCKE

A former player, captain, coach, and manager of Hearts, Gary has been a dedicated and vocal supporter of the Foundation since its inception. He brings to the board not only his football knowledge and his passion for the club and its supporters but also a fierce commitment to ensuring that fan ownership continues to contribute positively to Hearts’ future.

Currently serving as a club ambassador, his knowledge of
the club is a huge benefit to the Foundation, while his close relationship with the fan base and his engaging communications skills provide further assets for the organisation.

Claire Hammond

Claire is a dedicated Hearts fan with a professional
background in recruitment. She has been volunteering with the Foundation of Hearts for a long period, contributing her expertise to initiatives aimed at growing membership and strengthening the club’s fan community.

A passionate advocate for fan ownership, Claire excels at building strong relationships and connecting with people. Her work reflects her commitment to ensuring that every fan's voice is heard and valued. Whether through her professional skills or her love for Hearts, Claire is proud to support and help grow the collective strength of the Foundation and its members.

Jim Burberry

A lifelong Hearts fan who has lived within the sound of Tynecastle for most of his life, Jim is a recently retired business adviser with around 30 years’ experience, built from a career in professional services firms, the last 20 of which were in a leadership role as a partner with client service, profit, risk, and governance responsibilities. Jim also has great experience of leading and delivering diversity and inclusion initiatives and looks to draw on his wide, high-level experience to further the ambition of the Foundation and its members.

Gary Cowen

Gary was born and educated in Edinburgh before heading south to pursue a career as a barrister in London. He specialises in property law and became King’s Counsel in 2020. Gary also sits part time as a Tribunal Judge. He comes from a Hearts family and went to his first
game at Tynecastle in 1973. Gary is a collector of Hearts memorabilia and is a keen Hearts historian and was a part of the Hearts archive group which helped to establish the Hearts museum.

Paul Cheshire

Paul is a chartered accountant and currently a partner in the accountancy firm PwC. He has 17 years’ experience of working in the auditing profession and works with a number of high-profile Scottish businesses. His role on the Foundation of Hearts board is to provide guidance around accounting and wider business matters, as well as oversee the Foundation of Hearts’ finances.

Graham Robertson

Graham represented Scotland at bowls more than 200 times and won world outdoor and indoor titles in his illustrious career, as well as holding the role of national director of coaching. In his professional career, he was 20 years with HMRC and held a number of sales director posts before becoming managing director of a Sports and Surfaces business, which he and his wife acquired in 2015. A passionate Hearts fan who was a leading light in Tranent Hearts Supporters Club in the 1970s, he has clear ambitions to grow the Foundation membership.

Garry Halliday

Director of Member Affairs

(Honorary Director)

One of the founding directors of the Foundation of Hearts, Garry is a bricklayer and a third-generation dyed-in-the-wool Hearts fan. He has been a key figure in the Foundation journey, successfully implementing a number of major initiatives, and in December 2021 – after standing down as a board director – he took up the new position of director of member affairs. This is an honorary director post and while he does not sit on the board, Garry reports to it on his work.