HEART of Midlothian Football Club is part of the very fabric of Scottish football. A club with a long and distinguished pedigree, Hearts have played a significant part in the history of the game in Scotland. With the club set to enter administration today, the question is whether it has a future. The simple answer is that it should have. It must have. It is unthinkable that 139 years of history would be lost to Scottish football and to wider society. Yet, merely saying the club should have a future is a simple response. It is also, on one level, rather simplistic. Football, as the recent Rangers saga has taught us, is a complicated business where clubs can be exposed not only to the whims and predilections of owners but also to the harsh realities of a market economy. In the case of Rangers and now Hearts, the owners of the clubs have to take most of the responsibility. The loyal fans who turned up to games may have sometimes turned a blind eye to the precarious financial underpinning of their clubs in the good times, but that does not mean they are to blame for the position they find their team is now in. No, the underlying reason for the crisis at Hearts, as it was at Rangers, is ownership. Just about anyone, it seems, can own a football club. In the wake of the Rangers fiasco, the Scottish Football Association voted through tougher controls on clubs and new owners. A greater onus was placed on clubs to carry out detailed due diligence on prospective new owners. However, it applies only when there is a change of ownership and it still places responsibility on to the clubs to provide the information. While welcome, this is not good enough. At the very least there should be greater transparency over the financial affairs of football clubs in the higher echelons of the Scottish game. In a similar way to the banks having to prove they have the capital to remain solvent, clubs should be required annually to show they have a solid financial base before they are allowed to play in the SPL. As part of this, a further reform would be for the authorities to introduce a salary cap, an idea which has been supported by Uefa president Michel Platini, on the grounds that it would be fairer and generate greater competition. As long ago as 2009 the SFA discussed a salary cap where clubs would only be allowed to spend 65 per cent of their income on wages. Nothing happened. As player wages have been the main cause of financial problems in clubs, including Hearts, this is an idea which should be revived. More immediately though, we must hope that the cloud of possible administration might hide a silver lining with Hearts finally being able to sever ties with owner Vladimir Romanov, making it easier for someone - possibly a group involving fans - to take over the team and put it back on an even financial keel, even if the price to be paid is turning out in a lower division. Bagpipe "ban" leaves Scots fans reeling First things first. Bagpipes are a musical instrument, capable of producing everything from stirring marches to moving laments. A set of bagpipes is not, we repeat not, the Caledonian version of the vuvuzela. Not that you would know that from the official, not to say officious, way the English football authorities are treating the idea that the Tartan Army might bring their pipes to the first clash between Scotland and England for almost 15 years. Initial reports of a bagpipe ban have been clarified - the polite word - to confirm that Scots fans who want to greet their team with the traditional instrument must seek permission "on a case by case basis," as the bureaucrat-speak has it, from the Scottish FA. The reason for this is that, under the official regulations for Wembley "unlicensed musical instruments: trumpets, drums and other devices capable of causing a disturbance or nuisance" must not be brought into the ground. Now, we accept that even the most passionate Scot may find the presence of a band of pipers near them at a game a trifle annoying if they play them constantly and are - the small minority - not very well played. However, as Hamish Husband from the Association of Tartan Army Supporters Clubs has noted, Scots "have taken bagpipes to Wembley since 1928." We trust they will still be allowed by the Wembley suits to do so. We are also with Mr Husband in noting that, whatever the rules, the one thing the authorities won't stop Scots fans taking is optimism. We look forward to a victory reel being danced at Wembley - to the skirl of the pipes, of course.