Hearts poised to enter administration

June 17 (Reuters) - Scottish Premier League (SPL) club Hearts served notice on Monday of their intention to appoint an administrator having last week put all their players up for sale and been banned from making new signings.

The Edinburgh club has lurched from one crisis to another over the past few months, suffering the fallout from the financial problems of Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov, their largest shareholder.

"Heart of Midlothian plc can today confirm that it has served a notice of intention to appoint an administrator," the club said in a statement on its website (www.heartsfc.co.uk).

"The notice was served at the Court of Session in Edinburgh this afternoon."

Entering administration is likely to bring a 15-point penalty for next season as Scottish top-flight rules state clubs suffering an insolvency event will be deducted 10 points or one third of their total points for the preceding season, whichever is greater, and rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Hearts finished with 44 points last term.

The club, who have 25 million pounds ($39.28 million) of debt, invited offers for all their players last Thursday, saying they urgently needed funds to keep going over the close season when there was no matchday income.

The SPL said on Friday that Hearts had failed to pay their players on time and had been banned from signing new ones.

Long a poor relation compared to the English Premier League, Scottish soccer has struggled to adjust after the collapse of 54-times champions Rangers last year under a pile of debt.

Rangers had to relaunch from the fourth tier and were promoted to the third at the end of last