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PLANET HEARTS – An Announcement
Planet Hearts, the independent fans publication, is to change both the format and frequency of the title.
It will no longer appear as a weekly newspaper, but instead target specific games and occasions.
As a result, all subscriptions have been frozen.
Those already with accounts will be offered refunds or credit notes on what time remains on their deals.
We feel this is only fair, given the change of circumstances, and details will be posted out to them this week.
The decision to no longer publish as a weekly came after the club informed us that our staff would be banned from conducting any one to one interviews with their players.
This is, we were told, to protect the commercial interests of the club’s own brands.
While hugely disappointed, we accept their decision, given their desire to micro-manage the media in a way that will both reflect positively on the club and maximise income.
Our belief is the fans and club benefit from a healthy supporters voice, such as Planet Hearts or other publications and websites, but this cannot be achieved without support.
The media ‘ban’ imposed upon us last season clearly affected the kind of interviews we could conduct, and in our own opinion, the quality of publication we could offer fans.
As a result, we can no longer guarantee attracting enough sales and advertising to sustain a weekly paper available in shops, newsagents and supermarkets as before.
Instead, any future Planet Hearts publications will be sold through a soon to be launched online shop, along with a range of fans’ orientated merchandising including t-shirts and back-issues.
Any profits from the store will be used to finance future editions and other fan related publications.
Two members of staff have, regrettably, been made redundant and we would like to thank them for their endeavours, and wish them every success for the future.
We would also like to thank all those who contributed to what has been in our biased view the best Hearts publication in the world, especially our regular columnists.
They include Lord Foulkes MSP, Scott Wilson, Gary Cowen, Henry Smith, Ken Fruish, David McLetchie MSP, Mike Pringle MSP, George Hawkins, Gary Mackay, Roland Tye and those many others good enough to support us.
Also the various Hearts supporters clubs and organisations who offered us their unstinting backing.
And most of all you the fans, who remain the lifeblood of the club through the good times and bad.
Finally, we would like to apologise for this very late announcement, but have been trying to do all we can to find an alternative solution to preserve the paper as it is, but exhausted those options at a meeting last night.
Regardless of our own fate, we as supporters continue to back the team, and wish them well for the season ahead.
The Planet Hearts Team.
NB: if anyone wishes to pass on their comments, criticisms, views, support or other messages, please feel free to drop us a line
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