 Pedro Lopez, Hearts deputy chief executive, said that the proposals show Romanov's long term commitment to the club and that the increased capacity and revenue potential would allow them to reduce the debt in the long run.On 7 July 2008, Hearts issued a statement that stated the club would issue debt for equity in order to reduce the debt by £12M.Unfortunately, this promise turned out to be the same sort of fiction as previous Romanov claims, and was widely - and correctly - rubbished by both fans and the press.