Hearts could face heavy disciplinary sanction after failing to pay their players on time for the fourth month in a row, the Scottish Premier League said yesterday.

The Edinburgh outfit failed to meet a midnight deadline for payment of January salaries and an SPL board hearing will now determine what action the club is to face.

Hearts denied failing to pay players but under SPL rules, the club could now be hit with a fine, be docked points or hit with a transfer embargo.

Hearts hit back at the SPL stance, insisting the club had complied with the demand.

“The club totally refutes the suggestion made today by the SPL that it failed to comply with this order,” Hearts said in a statement.

“The club has made payment of the remuneration to each of the players on January 16 and has evidence to this effect.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.