HEARTS and Partick Thistle have been slapped with fines of £2500 after referring their battle with the SPFL to the Court of Session.
The Scottish FA charged Hearts and Thistle with breaching rule 78 of the judicial panel protocols which states that ‘no member shall take a dispute which is referable to arbitration . . . to a court of law except as expressly permitted’.
The clubs stated in a joint statement that they were ‘incredulous’ and questioned the timing of the charge, coming just days before their Scottish FA arbitration process was due to begin.
The maximum penalty that could have been dished out was ‘termination of membership’, but they effectively received a financial slap on the wrists following a hearing over Zoom on Thursday.
The irate clubs took the legal action after being condemned to relegation following the contentious vote to call the 2019/20 campaign.
The Jambos and Jags demanded that their demotions be revoked or, failing that, were seeking a combined £8m payout.
Lord Clark ultimately kicked the case back to Scottish FA arbitration rather than ordering an open hearing.
An independent panel subsequently ruled in favour of the SPFL, upholding the relegations.
