Paulo Sergio: 'It's not a relegation, it's a demotion. Hearts fans will never forget this.'

Paulo Sergio cannot understand the SPFL's decision on Hearts.

Tynecastle support right to be angry, says Portuguese legend

Paulo Sergio's connection with Hearts fans is undiminished eight years since he left Edinburgh. Even from Portugal's Algarve town of Portimao, he can empathise with the disgust among Jambos right now.

Whether you call it relegation, demotion, ejection or expulsion, the Scottish Professional Football League's decision to send Hearts down to the Championship following the coronavirus shutdown has provoked huge anger in Gorgie.

Sergio is fighting his own relegation battle as head coach of the Portuguese Primeira Liga side Portimonense. Yet he remains in tune with events in Scotland and the atmosphere around the club where he became a legend after Scottish Cup success in 2012.

The 52-year-old shares the dismay and knows feelings on how the SPFL have treated Hearts will not be easily erased from supporters' memory banks.

There will be anger

"Hearts fans will never forget this. They are right to be angry," Sergio told the Evening News. "They will accept their team going to the second division if the league finishes and they are last because they did not win enough points.

"In this case, last place is being put into the second division without all the games being played – at a time when Hearts have invested in their stadium, new players and a new coach.

"If they don't have the chance to fight for the results after all this investment, then of course everybody will feel it is not fair. It's not a relegation, it's a demotion."

Unlike Hearts and fellow relegated clubs Partick Thistle and Stranraer, Portimonense will get the opportunity to play for their survival. They sit second bottom of Portugal's top flight and are six points adrift of the safe zone with ten games left.

The campaign is due to restart early next month. Sergio has only been in charge for four games and is grateful to at least have matches to determine his team's fate. It is a luxury Hearts would dearly love.

Same if it was Hibernian

"We are going to play every four or five days and play all ten games inside one and a half months," he explained. "It will be tough and it will be a risk, but at least they are giving us the chance to finish the league and fight for the points.