Hearts keep Thomson, hit out at ´mafia´

Hearts have accused ‘a mafia’ of dragging their players into criminal activity, hours after ruling on Craig Thomson’s sex offence scandal.

The full-back pleaded guilty to indecent behaviour towards two girls, aged 12 and 14, and was placed on the sex offenders register and fined 4000 pounds on June 17.

Prosecutors told the Edinburgh Sheriff Court Thomson, 20, sent pictures of male genitals to the girls and asked one of them for sex.

The Scottish Premier League club have decided not sack the 20-year-old – who apologised on Friday – before launching an attack on ‘crooks, criminals and thieves’ they believed were having a negative influence on their players.

“Mafia are dragging kids into the crime, in order to blackmail and profit on them. It is not possible to separate these people from paedophiles, and you don’t need to do that,” a statement on the club’s website read on Friday.

“Each year we are forced to fight against these maniacs harder and harder. We are standing in their way not letting them manipulate the game of football in the way they want. As such they undermine us in every possible way they can.”

“The task of the club is to tear these kids out of hands of criminals.”

Midfielder Ian Black and youth player Robert Ogleby are also accused of possession of cocaine.

Hearts, who finished third in the Scottish Premier League, said the problems had risen to a new high.

“Every year Hearts fights to be in the top three, but even last season, in the last 12 games of the season, it was almost like someone replaced the team with a different one,” the statement read.

“Whose fault is that? Players’? Manager’s? Or it is mafia.”

“Stealing players, bad games, problems with the law – all of that on top of record SFA (Scottish Football Association) fines. Problems are just shifted to another level.”

Hearts took aim at agent Gary Mackay, who represents three of the four players recently in trouble, the Scottish media and other ‘football patriots’.